Aunt Charlotte's stories of American history

AUNT CHARLOTTE S

fib/

SHERIDAN'S RIDE.

AUNT CHARLOTTE'S

STORIES OF

AMERICAN HISTORY

BY

CHARLOTTE M. YONGE

AND

H. HASTINGS WELD, D.D.

ILonUon:

MARCUS WARD & CO., LIMITED, CHANDOS STREET

AND AT BELFAST AND NEW YORK

M.DCCC.LXXXIII.

CONTENTS.

CHAP. PAGE

I. — THE NATIVES OF AMERICA 7

II. — THE BEGINNING OF DISCOVERY . . . . 12

III. — COLUMBUS 19

IV. — THE ADVENTURES OF ALONZO DE OJEDA . . 31

V. — PRINCESS ANACAONA . . . . . 38

VI. — THE CURSE OF AMERICA ..... 44

VII. — THE FIRST SIGHT OF THE PACIFIC .... 49

VIII. — THE WAY INTO THE PACIFIC . . . . 56

IX.— THE AZTEC EMPIRE 62

X — THE CONQUEST OF MEXICO ..... 67

XL — THE CONVERSION OF MEXICO 74

XII. — THE INCAS OF PERU 80

XIII. — THE CONQUEST OF PERU ..... 85

XIV. — THE CIVIL WAR IN PERU . . . . . 92

XV. — PROTECTION FOR THE INDIANS . . . . IOO

XVI. — ENGLISH NORTH AMERICAN DISCOVERIES . . 107

XVII. — DISCOVERIES ON THE EASTERN COAST . . .114

XVIII. — ENGLISH SAILORS ON THE SPANISH MAIN . . I2O

XIX THE FIRST NORTHERN COLONIES . . . .127

XX. — THE PILGRIM FATHERS ..... 136

XXI. — MISSIONARIES IN NORTH AMERICA . . . .143

XXII. — SPREAD OF FRENCH POWER . . . . 153

XXIII. — INDIAN WARS . . . . . . . .163

XXIV. — THE ENGLISH CONQUEST OF CANADA . . . 176

XXV. — EXPULSION OF THE JESUITS FROM SOUTH AMERICA . 1 88

XXVI. — THE THIRTEEN COLONIES 195

XXVII. — THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION ..... 205

XXVIII. — THE WAR OF INDEPENDENCE .... 22O

XXIX. — THE WAR OF INDEPENDENCE 230

XXX. — THE AMERICAN REPUBLIC ..... 242

XXXI. — THE REVOLUTION IN HAITI 254

XXXII. — SPANISH AMERICA 263

XXXIII. — THE REVOLT IN SPANISH AMERICA . . . .270

Contents.

CHAP. PAGE

XXXIV. THE LAKE WAR 276

XXXV. — INDEPENDENCE OF LA PLATA AND VENEZUELA . 286

XXXVI. — INSURRECTION IN MEXICO 2Q2

XXXVII. — THE INDEPENDENCE OF MEXICO .... 299

XXXVIII. — THE EMPEROR MAXIMILIAN .... 307

XXXIX. — INDEPENDENCE OF CHILI, PERU, AND BRAZIL . 313

XL. — EMANCIPATION OF NEGROES IN ENGLISH ISLES . 320

XLI. — BOUNDARY QUESTIONS . . . . . -329

XLII. — DEVELOPMENT OF THE REPUBLICS . . . 337

XLIII. — ARGENTINE CONFEDERATION. WAR WITH PARAGUAY 342

XLIV. — NORTH AND SOUTH 350

XLV. — SECESSION 361

XLVI. — THE WAR OF SECESSION . . . . . 368

XLVII. — THE WAR OF SECESSION 377

XLVIII. DEFEAT OF THE SOUTH ..... 385

XLIX. — CONCLUSION 395

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

PAGE

SHERIDAN'S RIDE (p. 386) .... Frontispiece.

AZTEC MOUNDS NEAR MARIETTA, OHIO .... 8

COLUMBUS BEFORE THE COUNCIL AT SALAMANCA . . 21

RECEPTION OF COLUMBUS BY FERDINAND AND ISABELLA . 27

VASCO NUNEZ ON SHIPBOARD ...... 49

AN AZTEC CITY ......... 63

SIR HUMPHREY GILBERT READING HIS COMMISSION . . I2O

PRESENTATION OF POCAHONTAS . . . . . 131

LANDING OF MARY CHILTON 137

JESUIT MISSIONARIES AT WORK . . . ... 144

THE EMBARKATION OF THE ACADIANS 184

THE RETREAT FROM CONCORD . . . . , 212
READING THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE . . .217

THE SURRENDER AT YORKTOWN ..... 240

MONTGOMERY STREET, SAN FRANCISCO 336

A SLAVE GANG 352

STORIES OF AMERICAN HISTORY.

CHAP. I.— THE NATIVES OF AMERICA.

the time that Palestine was being taught
by the messengers of Heaven, that Greece was
finding out all that the mind of man could accomplish,
and Rome was conquering all the lands she knew of;
yes, and long after the True Light had been known
in Palestine, and had shone over the world, and the
Roman Empire had been broken up into the kingdoms
of Europe, no one in these historic nations knew any-
thing of the lands that lay on the other side of the
world.

Indeed, the world was at first thought to be a flat
circle, where nothing but clouds and mist lay beyond
the Atlantic Ocean, though the Greeks had some
notions, taken perhaps from Phoenician sailors, that
there was a great country in the far West, which they

8 Stories of American History.

called Atlantis. The Carthaginians were also said to
have found a great island which lay beyond the western
seas. This island figures, in tradition, down to the
time of Columbus as Antilla ; and it was this that
it was supposed Columbus had re-discovered. But
while the use of the compass was not known, it was
impossible to sail far out of sight of land ; and what-
ever may have been learned by one generation was
soon forgotten by another. Even when it came to be
believed that the world was a globe, it was supposed
that the Atlantic Ocean reached all round from Ireland
and Spain to India, with only a few scattered islands
in it ; and these islands, some people said, were the
tops of the mountains in the old continent of Atlantis,
which had sunk beneath the sea.

Nevertheless there was not only a great continent,
but it was full of inhabitants, as we know from the
remains they have left. Along the banks of the river
Mississippi and Ohio are curious mounds, containing
rude pottery, stone arrow-heads, and tools. These
must be very ancient, for the trees which stand upon
the tops of the mounds are the growth of centuries.
In Central America there are wonderful remains of
large buildings, of which the history is not known.
In the territory now called New Mexico, belonging to
the United States, there are remains of walled and

The Natives of America.

fortified villages on the hills, with no gateways. The
only entrance is by flights of stone steps on the
outside.

There was a great empire in the south of the
Northern Continent, in Mexico, the dominant tribe in
which was the Aztecs ; and another of like dense
population and advanced organization in Peru. But
the main body of the two American continents, when
first they became known to Europeans, was inhabited
by large tribes of men, living a wild and roving life.
They had copper-coloured skins, high cheek bones,
small eyes, and straight black hair. The Northern
Continent had two leading tribes — the Iroquois, or Six
Nations, and the Algonquins. There were, besides, an
immense number of smaller families or tribes, who
spoke languages that were constantly becoming more
different from each other, as they dropped old words
and formed new, and generally very long ones.

Mostly they lived by hunting. The men, as
" braves," thought nothing manly but war and the
chase. They would show great patience in bearing
pain without a murmur. Their great glory was to
bring home the scalps of their enemies. If they made
a prisoner, they put him to the worst tortures they
could devise ; and he would think his honour saved
if he could bear all, even to death, without a sigh or a

io Stories of American History.

groan. The wives, or "squaws," had to do all the
work — digging the ground to grow maize, beans,
pumpkins, tobacco, and sunflowers for the sake of the
oil. To the squaws fell the preparing of the skins, of
which garments were made ; carrying burdens, and
setting up the houses whenever the tribe moved ;
removal taking place whenever game became scarce,
or the resources of a region were exhausted. Their
houses, called " wigwams " (an English adaptation of
two or three similar Indian words), consisted, in many
tribes, of large sheets of bark fastened upon stakes.
Indeed, birch bark was one of their most valuable
materials. Of it they made canoes, snow-shoes, and
baskets, and also cases in which their infants were
packed up, and suspended, either from the mother's
back or from the branch of a tree.

The tribes had chiefs, and matters of peace or war
were conducted by councils with great ceremony and
deliberation. Some tribes were much more warlike
than others ; some lived entirely by hunting, some
cultivated the ground more than others, some fished ;
but, in general character and appearance, they were all
much alike. They had very little religion, but there
was a common belief in a Great Spirit ; and in every
tribe there was at least one Medicine Man, who
dressed himself up strangely, and used wonderful

The Natives of America. 1 1

incantations to discover what was to be done at any
difficult moment. Some of the South American natives
lived in strange abodes, raised on stages high among
the branches of the mangrove trees that fringe the
coast. These were a very gentle and amiable people,
with much less endurance and activity than their
northern brethren. In a region where fruits are so
abundant by Nature, they made no attempt at culti-
vating the soil.

In the far South were the Patagonians, a rougher
and a duller race, men of very large stature, and very
wild and savage in their ways. Whence these races
came, and how they settled in the great Western Con-
tinent, no one knows. Some may have come by the
North, where the Eastern and Western Continents
nearly meet. Others may have made their way by the
chain of Islands in the Pacific. Or there may be some
truth in the story of the lost continent of Atlantis ;
and there may have been traffic with Europe before
the date of history. At any rate, many of these
people, in especial the Aztecs, had a tradition that
teachers and conquerors should come from the East.

CHAP. II.— THE BEGINNING OF
DISCOVERY.

968 — 1430.

> LL who have read the history of England re-
member how the Northmen and Danes used to
trouble our coasts. These people were great sailors.
They settled in Iceland, and, going on farther to the
West, they came, somewhere before the year 900, to a
country which they first saw in the summer, when
there was plenty of grass. It was named Greenland
by one Eric the Red, who hoped to persuade people
to follow him thither when he settled there. They set
up their homes, in spite of the cold and fogs, to which
they were well used in Iceland and Norway. In the
year 986, a young man named Biorn, whose father
had settled in Greenland, sailed to follow him, but lost
his way, and found himself on the coast of a country
of small hills, covered with wood. He knew that
Greenland was mountainous, and had no wood at all ;

The Beginning of Discovery. 13

so he did not stay there, but in about a week's time
set sail for his father's settlement in Greenland. Some
time later, about the year 1000, the son of Eric the Red,
Lief the Lucky, set out from Greenland, with thirty-
five men, among whom was a German, to find the
country that Biorn had described. Going to the
south-west, they saw first some great icy mountains,
with a plain covered with flat slaty stones, between
the mountains and the sea. Not liking this, they
coasted along till they saw a level and wooded country ;
and still further on, after two days, they found a place
where a river, which came through a lake, fell into the
sea. They determined to winter there, cut down trees,
and build themselves log huts. One day the German
was lost. They went out to look for him, and met
him, rolling his eyes, and talking to himself in his own
language, which they could not understand. At last,
however, he came to himself, and they found he was
almost wild with joy, having been reminded of his
own land by coming upon a spot full of vines bearing
clusters of grapes. They called the place Vineland,
or Vinland, and loaded their ships with the timber, so
scarce in Iceland and Greenland, where no trees
grew.

Two years later, Liefs brother, Thorwald, came in
search of more wood, and the place pleased him so

14 Stories of American History.

well he said he should like to stay there. He returned
the next year ; but this time the party saw three
mounds on the beach, and, going up to them, found
that what had been taken for mounds were three
canoes, with three natives hidden under each. Like
fierce Northmen, as they were, they killed eight of
them. One escaped in his canoe, and brought, on a
night soon after, the whole tribe against the Northmen.
A fleet of the savages attacked the ship on which the
Northmen were, and poured upon them a shower of
arrows. The natives were repulsed, but Thorwald
was mortally wounded. At his dying request, he was
buried on the spot he had liked so well, and the next
year the party returned to Greenland. Thorstein, his
brother, sailed from Greenland, with his wife Gudrida,
and his whole family, with the intention of bringing
home the body of Thorwald. But Thorstein did not
even reach Vineland. Driven by a storm upon an
uninhabited shore of Greenland, he was compelled to
winter there. Want and fatigue proved fatal to him,
and to several of his crew. In the spring, Gudrida
returned home with the dead body of her husband.

However, the accounts of Vineland induced a large
party of Icelanders to try to make a home there.
Thorfinn Karlsefne, a wealthy Icelander, married
Gudrida, and set sail with her for Vineland. The

The Beginning of Discovery. 1 5

expedition was embarked in three ships, carrying one
hundred and sixty men (some with wives), and was
furnished with tools, furniture, and cattle. They settled
at a place which they called Hop. Vineland is con-
sidered by antiquaries to have been in or near the
limits of the present State of Rhode Island ; and the
Hop of Thorfinn is claimed to be the present Mount
Hope. The Indian name of the eminence was
Montaup, and it can only be connected with the Hop
of Thorfinn by supposing that both Northmen and
the later English settlers, with an interval of centuries
between them, adapted the native name. The spot was
fruitful in native products, and answered generously
to cultivation. Here the Northmen built log houses,
and let their cattle feed upon the grass. The natives
came about them, and brought grey furs to exchange
for cloth and milk-soup. But they were dreadfully
frightened at the first hearing of the lowing of the
cattle, and all ran off. After a while they took courage,
and ventured upon another attack, such as they had
made upon Thorwald. They were beaten off, chiefly
by the courage and readiness of Gudrida. The North-
men remained two years at Hop. Gudrida had there
a son born — the first white child born in the Western
Hemisphere — whom she named Snorro. The repeated
attacks of the natives tired the Northmen out, and

1 6 Stories of American History.

they returned home, enriched with the valuable furs
and woods which they had obtained. Though the
precise point where Thorfinn landed cannot be
positively determined, there can be no doubt of the
general truth of the story. Snorro, born in Vineland,
became the head of an illustrious race of Icelandic
chiefs, and to his grandson, Bishop Thorlak Runolfson,
we are probably indebted for the preservation of what
we know about these early voyages. Gudrida, after
her return from Vineland, lived with Thorfinn in
princely state. After her husband's death, she made a
pilgrimage to Rome, and returned to pass the evening
of her eventful life in a religious retreat which her
western-born son, Snorro, had founded.

In the year 1167, when Owen Gwynned, King of
North Wales, died, there was a dispute among his chil-
dren who was to succeed him. One of his sons, named
Madoc, sailed away to the West with his followers, and
after some years came back, declaring that he had found
a beautiful mountainous country across the sea. Invit-
ing men to follow him, he embarked with a large party.
No more was heard of him. Indeed, after the North-
men gave up their long voyages, no one knew or cared
much about the Atlantic, or what might be beyond it.
In the time of that awful sickness, the Black Death,
all the Danish seamen died who knew how to reach

The Beginning of Discovery. 1 7

the coast of West Greenland. The settlement there,
said to have been large enough for a bishop and several
churches, was thought to have perished. But recent
discoverers think that the West of Greenland never
was settled.

The romance of adventure places Robert Macham,
an Englishman who lived in the time of Edward III.,
among the first of what may be called modern dis-
coverers, though his claim rests upon accident, not
intention. He ran away with a young lady of noble
birth, named Anne Dorset. They sailed from Bristol,
meaning to go to France ; but a great storm arose,
and their vessel was driven before it — Anne in utter
dismay at the punishment that had followed her sin.
At last they came to a lovely island, full of fine trees
and beautiful scenery. They landed, to refresh them-
selves ; and, another storm coming on, the ship broke
from her moorings, and was driven out to sea again.
The poor lady, in horror and grief, died three days
later, and Macham five days after, broken-hearted.
The crew buried them under a great cross, with an
inscription, begging any good Christian who should
find the spot to build a church over their remains.

The crew left the island in the ship's boat, were cast
upon the coast of Africa, and were made galley slaves
in Morocco. There they met with Juan de Morales,

1 8 Stories of American History.

a Spanish pilot, to whom they told their sad story.
Whether they were ever released from slavery does
not appear, but Morales was. When quite an old
man, he entered the service of Don Enrique, known
in history as Henry the Navigator. Don Enrique
was the son of Joao I., King of Portugal, and Philippa,
daughter of John of Gaunt. He was the first man of
modern times who had a real thirst for discovery, and
he listened eagerly to Morales. Enrique is said to
have been the first to apply the compass to the pur-
poses of navigation. He sent out vessels on voyages
of discovery from time to time, and on one of these
voyages, in 1419, Madeira was discovered, and Porto
Santo, an island near Madeira. The tradition is that
the bay where the lovers died was called Macho, after
Macham. The isle was named Madeira, from the
Portuguese name for wood. The Canary and Azore
Isles were found about the year 1450, and all were
held by the King of Portugal. But what Enrique
cared for most was to trace round the coast of Africa,
an undertaking accomplished afterward by his country-
men. So no more discoveries to the westward were
at that time made.

CHAP. III.— COLUMBUS.

1492 1506.

^MONG the brave mariners of the Italian city of
Genoa was a family named Colombo. Several
of them became famous captains, and fought against
the pirates in the Mediterranean. One of the family,
named Domenico, though himself a woolcomber, had
three sons, whose names are connected with one of
the most important events in the history of the world.
Cristofero, the eldest, took early to the sea. Bar-
tolomeo became so able a mathematician, that he was
appointed a map-maker at the Court of Portugal,
which was under the influence of Don Enrique (Henry
the Navigator), the great centre of maritime enter-
prise. Diego, as well as Bartolomeo, shared in after-
life in the honours and toils of their brother, whose
Latinised name is Christopher Columbus. Christopher
soon reached the command of a vessel in a squadron
fitted out by the Colombo family. In a naval en-

20 Stories of American History.

gagement his vessel took fire, and he saved his
life by jumping overboard, and, with the aid of a
plank, swimming ashore. After this escape, Columbus
repaired to Lisbon, where he joined his brother
Bartolomeo (Bartholomew) in his work as a map-
maker. By-and-by he married Felipa, the only
daughter of a navigator who had shared, in the service
of Don Enrique, in the discovery of Porto Santo and
Madeira. His bride's father had left what proved to
Columbus a rich inheritance in nautical instruments,
besides a grant of Porto Santo, conferred by Don
Enrique. The bridegroom and bride sailed to take
possession of their islet, hoping to do great things with
it ; but behold, they found it altogether overrun with
rabbits, which ate up all that they planted, and were so
numerous that it proved of no use to try to kill them
down. So after about a year, during which a son,
named after his uncle, Diego, was born, they left Porto
Santo to the rabbits, and came back to Lisbon, where
the young wife soon after died.

That disappointment about his island was the begin-
ning of greater things. Columbus had seen branches
of trees cast up by the sea, carved bits of wood, and
bodies of birds, all plainly coming from the West. He
thought that they must be from India. As the Portu-
guese were striving to make their way round the coast

Columbus. 2 1

of Africa, and get to India by the East, he believed
that he could find a much shorter way by the West,
if only he had ships and men. It was the hope of his
heart to use the wealth of India to attack the
Mahometan power, make a new crusade, and deliver
the Holy Land. He carried his plans first to the
chiefs of his native city, Genoa ; but they thought him
only a dreamer. Then he went to Portugal, but the
King, to whom he gave a detail of his plans, secretly
sent an expedition, which returned to report them as
vain fancies. He next tried Spain, but a great war
was going on, and no one was inclined to listen to
him. Travelling on foot with his son Diego, to seek
his brother-in-law, who resided at a small town in
Andalusia, Columbus stopped at the gate of a Fran-
ciscan monastery to ask food and drink for his son.
Fray Juan Perez, the Prior of the monastery, was
attracted by the appearance of the stranger. When
the heart is full the speech is ready, and Columbus
poured his story into the ears of one who could
appreciate his pious hopes. Fray Perez detained the
wayfarer as his guest. He procured interviews for
him with the navigators of the neighbouring port of
Palos. And better than all, Fray Perez brought
influences to bear which, after seventeen years of
waiting, secured to Columbus a friend in the great and

22 Stories of American History.

good Isabella, Queen of Castile in her own right, and
wife of Fernando, King of Arragon. She aided him
with means, and commissioned him to fit out three
vessels for the voyage of western discovery. With
these, on the 3rd of August, 1492, Christopher
Columbus set sail from the port of Palos, and the
Franciscan brothers could witness, and speed with their
prayers, the wayfarer whom they had entertained, now
sailing forth as High Admiral and Viceroy of all the
lands he might discover. Columbus had sent his
brother Bartholomew to England ; and King Henry
invited Columbus thither. But Bartholomew was de-
tained by pirates, and meanwhile Queen Isabella gave
the aid required.

It would require too long to tell of all the troubles
of Columbus with his crews> who were full of fright at
the strange currents they met, and, when they came
to the many acres of floating sea-weed brought by the
Gulf Stream, thought they were come to the verge of
the world, and would perish there. If Columbus had
not been one of the most patient as well as the most
daring men in the world, he would have turned back
long before. On the night of the loth of October, a
light was seen ; and in the morning a lovely island ap-
peared, with a white beach, luxuriant palm trees, green
sward, and a lake glittering in their midst. Columbus,

Columbus. 23

full of thanksgiving, landed, and dedicated it to the
Christian faith, by planting a great cross, and naming
it San Salvador. It was one of the Bahama Isles, the
northern ones that close in the Gulf of Mexico. The
natives came down to see the strange people, who they
thought had come from Heaven in their white-winged
ships. They were gentle, brown-skinned people, and
Columbus was much drawn to them, and hoped to
make them Christians. But his crew — rough, greedy
sailors, whom he picked up as he could — only thought
of the bits of gold they wore, and asked, by signs,
where they came from. They were understood to
answer that there was a great chief in Cubanacan, who
was served in cups and plates of gold. They meant
the interior of the great island of Cuba, but the sound
of the word made the discoverers think they intended
the Khan of Tartary, of whom all Europe had heard,
through the Venetians. So, making sure that this
place was a little isle to the extreme East of India,
where East had become West, the Spaniards called
these islands the West Indies, a name they have ever
since kept. The term Indian has been applied to all
the natives of the whole hemisphere, except those of
the extreme South.

Columbus sailed from one lovely island to another,
and making the discovery of the island of Cuba, coasted

24 Stories of American History.

along its shores. Sailing from Cuba, he found the
island of Haiti, which he called Hispaniola, or little
Spain, where he made great friends with a good and
gentle chief, a cacique named Guacanagari. It was
impossible, however, to keep the Spanish sailors in
order. They cared only for greed and pleasure, and,
the moment his eye was off, disobeyed the Italian
stranger. The fleetest of his ships was commanded
by Martin Pinzon, and was sailing a few miles in
advance of Columbus, when, having determined to
change his course, he signalled to Pinzon to follow.
Pinzon paid no heed. Night came on, and in the
morning Pinzon was no more to be seen. This was
on the i Qth of December, 1492. On the morning of
the 25th, Columbus having charged the officers and
pilot of his vessel to keep strict watch, retired to take
rest, and was awakened by the striking of his vessel
on a shoal. The wreck, which was on the coast of
Hispaniola, was complete, and Columbus had only one
of his three vessels left, and that the smallest. With
the assistance of Guacanagari, Columbus built a fort of
material saved from the timbers of the wreck, and called
it La Navidad (the Nativity), in honour of the day of
his escape ; and he determined to return to Spain, and
defeat the treachery of which he suspected Pinzon.
The design of the runaway, Columbus thought, was to

Columbus. 25

reach Spain before his commander, and defraud him
of his honours and rewards. He left thirty-four men
in the fort, with such munitions as could be spared,
charging them so to live, till his return, that the natives
might still think they had come from Heaven. Alas !
so far were the garrison from heeding him, that all
except their captain so misused the natives that they
rose on them, and killed them every man. Meantime,
Columbus, and his runaway Pinzon, both sailed into
Palos on the same day, the i5th of March, 1493.
Columbus had found Pinzon just after leaving Navidad.
They had stormy passages, sometimes in company, and
sometimes separated ; and Columbus never quite over-
came his distrust, while Pinzon feared arrest for dis-
obedience. At the very last they were separated by
a storm. Columbus entered Palos at noon. Pinzon,
unaware of his arrival, came in at evening. All Spain
welcomed Columbus. When he came to the court,
the King and Queen rose to receive him, and honours
of all kinds were heaped upon him. A coat of arms
was assigned him, to which was annexed the motto :
" To Castile and Leon, Columbus gave a new world."

A new expedition was fitted out, with clergy, to
convert the natives, and preparations to build a city
and found an empire in the New World. Unfortunately,
few good or honourable men joined in these schemes.

26 Stories of American History.

Even the head of the mission priests, Bernalo Boyle,
or Boli, was a hard-hearted and greedy man, who had
none of the zeal of Columbus to win souls for the
Church and deliver the Holy Land. The second
expedition set sail from Cadiz, on the 25th of
September, 1493, witn seventeen vessels, three large
ships, and fourteen of lesser tonnage. Touching at
the Canaries, they proceeded West, till on Sunday, the
2nd of November, they discovered the central island
of the group known as the Caribees. It was called by
Columbus, Dominica. Several other islands in the
group were visited, and suspicious signs were found
that the natives were man-eaters. The word cannibal
is supposed to be a corruption of Caribee, or Caribal.
The natives of the Caribee group were found to be far
fiercer than those of San Salvador and Hispaniola.
From the Caribee islands the fleet sailed to the bay of
Navidad, Hispaniola, trusting to be welcomed by their
friends in the garrison, but finding only the ruins and
ashes of the dismantled fort. Not a man was left to
give the Spanish version of the disaster.

A city was founded in Hispaniola, named Isabella,
after the Queen. Explorations by land and sea were
made, in one of which the island of Jamaica was
discovered. Mines were opened ; but with the de-
velopment of enterprise came also the growth of

RECEPTION OF COLUMBUS BY FERDINAND AND ISABELLA.

Columbus. 27

faction and enmity toward Columbus. There was a
disposition among the Spaniards to treat the Genoese
as a foreigner. Evil reports against him were sent to
Spain, and among the authors of these was Father
Boli. Columbus remained, as long and as far as he
could, the protector of the Indians. He strove to
think charitably of Guacanagari, who claimed, and
with good show of evidence, that the destruction of
Navidad was the work of another tribe. The pre-
ponderance of testimony seems to be in his favour, as
he died in poverty, and in the contempt of his own
people. The more Columbus tried to protect the
Indians, the more the Spaniards hated him. The
result of their representations was that Don Juan
Aguado was sent from Spain, as commissioner, to
examine and report upon the condition of things.
Aguado was selected as a friend of Columbus ; but
proceeded in a spirit so arrogant and unfriendly, that
Columbus decided to return with him, and defend
himself. This he did, leaving his brother Bartholomew
in command of Hispaniola, with his other brother,
Diego, to succeed him in case of his death. On the
nth of June, 1496, Columbus landed, with Aguado, at
Cadiz. His reception by Ferdinand and Isabella was,
contrary to his fears, highly favourable. He was
loaded with honours, and his heirs were entitled to

28 Stories of American History.

bear his coat of arms, with its honourable motto. For
all this, so persistent were his enemies, that it was not
till May, 1498, that he sailed from Spain on his third
voyage of discovery.

On this third voyage Columbus discovered the
large island near the mouth of the Orinoco, which
still retains the name which he gave it, Trinidad. It
was the first time the continent was reached ; but
though Columbus saw the mainland in the distance,
he fancied it to be an island. He inferred, rather
than knew, the existence of the great river Orinoco,
and followed the coast of Trinidad through the fearful
straits, to which he gave the names of the Dragon's
Mouth and the Serpent's Mouth. The great diffi-
culty in passing them was caused by strong currents.
From the freshness of the water, which poured from
the mouths of the Orinoco, Columbus judged that only
a continent could supply such streams. Columbus
was disposed to think that he was near the object
of his search, the Indies, and that he should reach
that country if he went along the coast, to the north-
west. Indeed, he persuaded himself that this was
the Indian Ophir, from which Solomon obtained the
gold of the Temple. But the great Admiral was
growing old, and was ill with the gout, and he was
forced to make for the settlement in Hispaniola. He

Columbus. 29

found Hispaniola in a sad state. The Spaniards had
provoked wars with the natives, and were at discord
among themselves. The ground was untilled, and the
whites found it impossible to work in the tropical
climate. Columbus then decided that the Indian
prisoners had better be put in charge of the Spanish
settlers, to do their work, and learn Christianity
and civilized ways. This was so reported to Queen
Isabella, that she thought he was making slaves of
her subjects the natives. A commissioner, Francisco
de Bobadilla, was sent from Spain, who exceeded
his authority, and at the instance of the enemies of
Columbus, sent him and his brothers, Bartholomew
and Diego, home in chains. No sooner, however, was
he able to explain matters to the Queen, than she
understood how cruelly he had been wronged, burst
into tears, and besought his pardon. It was at the
end of the year 1500 that Columbus returned to
Spain. Old as he was, he longed to pursue the track
he thought he had found. After over a year's delay,
he prevailed to be sent out a fourth time, though the
King forbade him to set foot on Hispaniola. In this
last voyage, Columbus sailed along the coast of
Veragua, vainly seeking the outlet to India, which he
had expected to find. The glimpses of the continent
which he had seen were supposed to indicate islands.

30 Stories of American History.

At length, after a storm of eighty-eight days, with his
vessels shattered, and disease and discontent among
his crews, he was forced to change his course and
return. He reached Jamaica, upon the shore of which
island he stranded his unseaworthy vessels, and, with
his crews, lived on the wrecks. In two canoes, bought
of the Indians, and strengthened, the perilous voyage
was made to Hispaniola by messengers begging for
relief. For seven months Columbus did not know
whether his messengers had reached Hispaniola. It
was a year before the vessels arrived to his relief,
in which he sailed to Hispaniola. Thence, after a
month's stay, he sailed for Spain, reaching Seville,
after a tempestuous passage, in November, 1504. Ill
and worn out, the first tidings that met him were that
the good Queen Isabella was dying. All his hope was
over now. He knew he should never lead his Indian
crusade to free the Holy Sepulchre, and that his plans
of making Christian men of the Indians had brought
misery and slavery on them. A few more months
passed of weary striving for his rights. His health
entirely broke, and he died at Valladolid, on the 2Oth
of May, Ascension Day, 1506, being about seventy
years of age. His two sons kept the motto and coat
of arms which had been assigned to him.

CHAP. IV.— THE ADVENTURES OF
ALONZO DE OJEDA.

1499.

was an Italian who found the great Western
Continent, and it was another Italian whose name
it bears. In 1499, a Florentine merchant, named
Amerigo Vespucci, set forth on an expedition, com-
manded by a brave and daring Spanish gentleman,
Alonzo de Ojeda, who had been with Columbus on
his second voyage. Hearing of the great Admiral's
third voyage along the Gulf of Paria, Ojeda persuaded
the rich merchants of Seville to fit out four ships, with
which he hoped to bring them home more gold than
the islands had yet produced. Ojeda was a very small
man, but wonderfully brave, daring, and spirited. He
was withal very devout, and carried about with him a
little picture of the Blessed Virgin, which he thought
shielded him from all hurt. Amerigo Vespucci wrote
an account of this expedition, and therefore it was that

32 Stories of American History.

his name came to be given to the lands he beheld.
After passing the Isle of Trinidad and the Dragon's
Mouth, the ships came to a bay filled with tranquil
water. In this bay were bell-shaped houses, built
upon piles driven into the sand, communicating with
the shore by drawbridges, and by canoes, which were
drawn up around the houses. This place, the Indian
name of which was Coquibacoa, the discoverers called
Venezuela, or little Venice. The Indians were very
fine, handsome people, armed with bows and arrows.
They fought with the strangers, but were worsted.
Ojeda did not gain much by his voyage. He returned
to Spain, and, through his personal friends, obtained
the appointment of Governor of Coquibacoa. His
second voyage ended in his arrest by his partners, and
a lawsuit, by which, though successful, he was left
penniless. It had now, despite the misfortunes of
discoverers, become the fashion for every one who was
I adventurous to set out on a westward voyage to seek
the land of gold. El Dorado, the place of gold, was
thought to be somewhere in the West. Ship after
ship was fitted out in quest of it, and each surveyed a
bit more of the coast of South America, and generally
taught the Indians more and more hatred of the white
man. Of a third voyage which Ojeda is said to have
made there are no records. For several years he

The Adventures of Alonzo de Ojeda. 33

remained in obscurity. But, in 1509, King Ferdinand
of Spain was induced to send out four ships, with three
hundred men, to found a settlement in the place where
Columbus thought he had discovered the gold of
Ophir. The settlement was to be called Carthagena,
or New Carthage. Ojeda joined the expedition at
Hispaniola, commissioned as governor of a province
to be called New Andalusia. Among the men en-
gaged in this expedition were two of whom we shall
hear much later — Fernando Cortes and Francisco
Pizarro. The former, however, had to be left at
Hispaniola, because of an inflammation in his knee.
Juan de la Cosa, a most accomplished pilot, familiar
with the coasts and seas to be explored, and who had
visited Spain to forward the enterprise, came out with
the ships to join in the voyage. Under the guidance
of the veteran pilot, the ships anchored, in the autumn
of 1509, in the bay of Carthagena. Cosa, who had
touched at the place on a former voyage, warned
Ojeda that the natives were Caribs, and very fierce,
using great palm-wood swords, osier shields, and
poisoned arrows, and the women fighting as well as
the men. He advised going on to the Gulf of Uraba,
where, he thought, the natives were less ferocious, and
did not poison their weapons ; but Ojeda would not
heed advice, and advanced into the country. A body

34 Stories of American History.

of Indians met him, whereupon he charged a priest to
read a paper taking possession of the country, and
then held up presents, and tried to make friends. The
Indians would not listen, blew war notes on their
conch-shells, and drew their bows. After a sharp
fight, the Spaniards gained the victory ; but, against
old Cosa's advice, pursued the flying enemy too far
inland. Other Indians joined the foe in great num-
bers. Ojeda was cut off, and, with a few men, obliged
to defend himself in a hut, where he would have been
overpowered, if faithful Cosa had not come to the
rescue. Cosa defended the door, while Ojeda sprang
forth on the enemy, cut his way through them, and
dashed out of sight. Then Cosa and one other man
attempted to regain the ships, but Cosa, who had been
pierced by several poisoned arrows, sank down on the
way, and died. His companion was the only man, of
seventy, who reached the ships. There the crews
waited, watched and searched the shores for the
others, till, after many days, they came to a great
wood of mangroves, curious trees which grow in the
water, but with roots rising far above the surface,
before the trunk begins, so that there is a great matted
thicket half under the sea. There they thought they
saw a man in Spanish clothing, and found Ojeda,
lying speechless with hunger and fatigue on the matted

The Adventitres of Alonzo de Ojeda. 35

roots ; his sword in his hand, and his shield on his
arm, without a wound, though there were the marks
of three hundred arrows on his shield. On his re-
covery, he followed the advice which Cosa had given,
sailed to the bay of Uraba, and founded there a city,
which he named St. Sebastian, but he did not find the
country much more favourable. The vegetation was
beautiful, but the forests were full of wild beasts and
venomous serpents, and the rivers were full of alli-
gators, so large that they could kill a horse. Ojeda
built here a fortress, and surrounded his settlement with
a stockade. The Indians swarmed around it, and shot
down the Spaniards who came out in search of food,
and the poisoned arrows caused death in terrible
agony. Ojeda had never yet been struck. He
thought himself under the special care of the Blessed
Virgin, and the Indians thought he was protected by
some spell. They told off their four best archers to
watch and hit him. Three of their arrows glanced
from his shield, but the fourth arrow pierced his thigh.
Even then, his dauntless spirit was not broken. He
caused two plates of iron to be heated red-hot, and
placed on each side of the wound, and endured the
horrible agony without a groan, and without being
held. Afterward he lay in sheets steeped in vinegar,
to allay the heat that raged through his whole body ;

36 Stories of American History.

and this strange treatment cured him. While he was
disabled, a runaway party arrived from Hispaniola,
fancying he was getting rich. But when they saw
the misery of the colonists, they had no wish to stay
there, and Ojeda resolved to go back in their ship, and
obtain the supplies so much needed at St. Sebastian.
The crew were a set of wretches who put him in irons.
As soon as a storm rose, they were forced to let him
loose again, as he was the only man on board who
could manage a ship in danger. All that even he
could do was to run the shattered wreck aground on
the island of Cuba. Here was no Spanish settlement,
but the natives had heard enough of the white men to
hate them, and drive them away. They had to toil
through swamps, which were frightfully deep ; the
route furnished nothing to eat or to drink, for these
marshes were salt. All day long they struggled
through water up to their waists, and at night climbed
into mangrove trees to sleep. Every day some were
drowned or smothered in the mud, and the food
brought from the ship was scarcely eatable. Still at
each pause Ojeda knelt and prayed, and he made a
vow that, if he were saved this time, he would build
a chapel, and set up his picture of Our Lady among
the heathen. After thirty days of misery in the
swamps, Ojeda, with a very few, survived, and found

The Adventures of Alonzo de Ojeda. 37

a path which led them to a village of friendly natives,
who sheltered and nursed them, nay, treated them like
angels. And here Ojeda raised a little hut, where he
hung his picture, and bade the Indians take care of it,
till he should come back to found a church. Then he
and the others made their way to Jamaica in canoes.
Thence he returned to Hispaniola, but he never could
obtain means of going back to St. Sebastian, or of
building his church. He was a ruined man ; and it is
said that he ended by taking the vows of the Brothers
of St. Francis, and died as one of that order. Though
proud and passionate, he was one of the best of the
Spanish adventurers.

^SfS^TK^

f^^ "Y^*^ -$

CHAP. V.— PRINCESS ANACAONA.

tHE mountains of Cibao, in the midst of the island
of Hispaniola, and the rivers flowing from them,
were found to contain gold. Columbus explored
this region in 1494. A settlement was formed by him
for working the mines, and a fort, called San Thomas,
built for the protection of the miners. The city and
bishopric of San Domingo were founded four years
later, and the name has spread to the whole island.
The difficulties of government were great. Crowds
of needy Spaniards came out, wanting gold first and
land next, and when they had land they wanted people
to till it. At home Queen Isabella had been most
anxious for the good of the poor Indians. So was the
council who governed Castile, after the death of
Isabella, in behalf of poor mad Juana, daughter of
Ferdinand and Isabella. Bishops, priests, and brethren
of the preaching orders of St. Francis and St. Dominic
were sent out to convert the natives. But nothing

Princess Anacaona. 39

good could be done in the presence of the Spanish
settlers. They would attack and offend the Indians
by their pride and greed of gold, which, indeed, some
of the natives thought was the white man's god. Then
the Indians were stirred up, and even in the time of
Columbus it was necessary to take the field against
them, as they were reported to be forming a league
against the Spaniards. There were murders and
fightings, and when the white men gained the advan-
tage, as with their fire-arms and horses they were sure
to do, they took many prisoners, and received the
submission of tribes. Then, considering the great
need of workmen, Columbus had thought it fair to
make these captives work ; portioning off a chief and
his family on what was called a repartimiento to a
Spanish settler. The settler was, in return for their
labour, to teach them the Christian faith and habits.
But this arrangement generally ended in the Spaniards
teaching them nothing but hard work in the mines, of
which they died.

In Spain orders and orders were given for the pro-
tection of the poor Indians ; and governors were
chosen in the hope that they would restrain the greedy
settlers. But these governors no sooner touched the
western soil than they seemed to catch the same in-
fection of cruelty. Nicolas de Ovando, who came out

40 Stories of American History.

as governor of Hispaniola in 1502, was one of the
worst and most cruel of these men. The first news
that met Ovando on landing was that an enormous
nugget of gold, worth ^416, had been raked out by
accident, at the mines, by an Indian woman ; and that
there was a rising of the Indians, so that there would be
plenty of slaves. Almost every one who had come out
with Ovando rushed off to the mines. There they
could get no wholesome food, fell sick, and died in
large numbers. Sensible people soon perceived that
the men who sought for gold were only wretched and
miserable, while those who cultivated the ground soon
grew rich on that very gold. But farmers and gold-
diggers were equally savage to the poor Indians ; and
when the beaten, over-worked wretches ran away, they
were hunted down with great Spanish bloodhounds,
which often tore them to pieces in a most horrible way.
Of all the piteous stories of savage things done in that
island of Hispaniola, perhaps the most grievous is that
of the Princess Anacaona.

It will be remembered that the friendly cacique,
Guacanagari, represented to Columbus that the de-
struction of the fortress Navidad was the work of
another but unfriendly cacique. The name of this
cacique was Caonabo. He remained to the last the
foe of the Spaniards, fomenting plots and instigating

Princess Anacaona. 41

wars against them. He is said to have been of Carib
birth, a race more fierce and warlike than the Indians
of Hispaniola, over whom he appears to have exerted
great influence. He was deceived, made captive by a
stratagem, and placed on board a vessel to be sent to
Spain, but died on the passage. The wife of Caonabo
was Anacaona, a princess celebrated for beauty and
accomplishments. Her brother, Behechio, was cacique
of Xaragua, a large district at the western extremity of
the island, and with him Anacaona retired after the
defeat of Caonabo and his confederate caciques.

Anacaona is said to have been sensible that her hus-
band had provoked the enmity of the Spaniards, and
to have retained the admiration for them with which
the Indians first saw them. She was, moreover, wise
enough to perceive that resistance against them was
hopeless. She had great influence over her brother,
was beloved by his subjects, and when Behechio died,
succeeded him in the government ; always restraining
her people from intercourse with the Spaniards. It
was believed or pretended that she was planning a
revolt. Thereupon Ovando set out for Xaragua with
three hundred foot-soldiers and seventy horsemen fully
armed, under the pretext that he was coming to make
a friendly visit. Anacaona received him after the hos-
pitable custom of her tribe ; coming out to meet him

42 Stories of American History.

at the head of all her chief kindred, the maidens dan-
cing and waving palms before him, and greeting him
with songs. Perhaps these songs of welcome were of
her own composing ; for it is said of her that she was,
in her native fashion, a poet. She lodged him in the
largest house in her beautiful village, among the
palms and bananas, and entertained him day after day
with feasts, songs, and dances, as she had always treated
her white visitors.

It is to be hoped that it was really true that Ovando
fancied she meant to betray him. But even if that
were true, he acted with frightful cruelty and treachery ;
for she had not done a single unfriendly act when he
arranged his plot. He offered to show off the Spanish
sports; and on Sunday, after dinner, in the central
place in the village, his horsemen tilted against each
other with long reeds, in the Moorish fashion, and one
of them made his horse curvet and dance to the music
of a viol. Suddenly, while all the Indians were gazing
at the sight, Ovando gave the signal, by touching a
gold medal which hung around his neck. His soldiers
sprang upon the defenceless people, bound the caciques
to the posts of the house, and put them to horrible
tortures to force them to confess their queen's alleged
plot. The poor caciques said whatever the Spaniards
wished to free themselves from the pain ; but it served

Princess Anacaona. 43

them little, for they were all, eighty-four in number,
burned or hung. Queen Anacaono herself was taken
in chains to San Domingo. There she had the form of
a trial, and was condemned and executed on the forced
confessions of her tortured subjects. All her people
were massacred or made prisoners to work in cruel
slavery, except a few who escaped in their canoes.
For months the district of Xaragua was ravaged by
the Spaniards ; and the region which had lately been
a perfect paradise of beauty and delight was made a
place of slaughter and a wilderness. Ovando founded
a city in Xaragua, which he called " St. Mary of True
Peace." These horrible deeds, crowned by sacrilege,
were done in 1503.

CHAP. VI.— THE CURSE OF AMERICA.

1510.

'HEREVER the Christian religion is taught,
there is sure to be a witness against wicked-
ness, even if it is not attended to. The Domi-
nican Friars looked on with horror at the treatment
of the Indians, and one of them, Father Antonio
Montesino, preached two sermons, setting before the
Spaniards the exceeding wickedness of their behaviour
in the sight of God. The hearers came to the
monastery in a great rage, but they got little comfort
there ; for these good friars told them that they would
give the Sacraments to no man who went out hunting
and making slaves of the Indians.

The settlers minded this the less, because the
brethren of the order of St. Francis always took
the contrary side from those of St. Dominic. The
Franciscans said that the heathen men had no right
to be free ; and that enslaving them was the best

The Curse of America. 45

chance of making them Christians. At last, Brother
Antonio went to Spain, and told the King, to his
face, horrible stories which his governors had kept
from him; how thirteen Indians had been hung in a
row, how many were hunted and torn by dogs,- how
they were worked to death under the lash in the
mines ; and how, when there were too few left to
work in the gold diggings in Hispaniola, ships were
sent to the Lucayan Islands to persuade the poor
natives to come to the Isles of the Blest, where the
spirits of their ancestors lived ! He told how, purely
in sport, a Spaniard had picked up a little Indian
child, and thrown it over the heads of the by-
standers into the sea, laughing and joking as it came
two or three times to the surface.

The King's anger was hot when he heard these
things of the people whom his good Queen had loved
and hoped to win for Christ. A council was held at
Burgos, and laws were made, not taking away the
custom of making the Indians work, but trying to
hinder all the horrid injustice and cruelty. At the
same time negroes began to be brought to the islands.
Ever since the time when the Portuguese began
sailing to the African coast, they had made their chief
profit from the sale of negroes, whom they had taken,
as the Spaniards did the Indians, under the pretence

46 Stories of American History.

of teaching them to be Christians. In 1510, the
Genoese merchants brought the first negroes to
Hispaniola, and they were soon found to bear work
in that climate much better than the Indians ; and did
not run away, because, poor things, they had nowhere
to run to. They were much more tame and less
dangerous than the Caribs, and thus the Spaniards
preferred them ; and the great sin and curse of America
was begun, by the constant habit of obtaining blacks
from the coasts of Guinea by stealing, or, more often,
by buying them from hostile tribes, and carrying them
over to work in the West Indies.

The settlements there had begun to spread into the
great Island of Cuba. Two friends, a gentleman
named Pedro de Rentezia, and a young priest, Barto-
lome de las Casas, had a grant in Cuba, and a reparti-
miento of Indians. They were good and kindly men,
but had not thought of trying to convert their Indians,
or troubled themselves about the crime of making
them slaves. There was only one other priest in the
island, and Las Casas, though he had hitherto been
more of a farmer than a clergyman, was sometimes
obliged to preach. As he was preparing a Sermon, he
came upon the Thirty-fourth Chapter of Ecclesiasticus,
and there read : " He that sacrificed! of a thing unlaw-
fully gotten, his offering is ridiculous, and the gifts of

The Curse of America. 47

unjust men are not accepted. The Most High is not
pleased with the offerings of the wicked, neither is He
pacified for sin by the multitude of sacrifices. Whoso
bringeth an offering of the goods of the poor, doeth
as one that killet'h the son before the father's eyes."
What, then, thought Las Casas, must God think of
the treatment of the Indians ? He remembered how
one of the good friars in Hispaniola had refused to
give him absolution while he kept Indians in servitude.
He had then been angry, and thought it absurd ; but
now the good seed had borne fruit, and he resolved,
in the first place, to give up all his own Indians. He
had, however, to wait till his mate, Rentezia, should
return from Jamaica, where he had gone to another
Spanish colony on business, and he was very anxious
to know whether his friend would consent. Rentezia
had been spending Lent there and had gone into
retreat in a convent. During this quiet time, it had
likewise been borne in on him how great was their sin
toward the poor natives. He had come to the con-
clusion that it was their duty to give up slave-keeping
and to try to found colleges and schools, where the
young, at least, might be taught the Christian faith.

The two good men were delighted to find them-
selves thus agreed, and they resolved to sell their
farm, and use the proceeds for the teaching of the

48 Stories of American History.

Indians. Las Casas went home to lay the case of the
Indians before the King. Ferdinand was then an old
man, and he died soon after the arrival of Las Casas,
in 1516. His poor daughter Juana was mad, and her
son Charles reigned over the kingdoms of Spain and
the Indies. If edicts at home could have done any j
good, the Indians would have been free men, well and
gently trained in Christian ways. But the isles were
far off, and full of greedy men, who paid no atten-
tion to the laws at home. The only one they cared to
carry out was one that Las Casas had unfortunately
recommended, hoping to benefit the Indians, namely,
that each white man should be licensed to import a dozen
negro slaves. The good man grieved for it afterwards,
and perceived that to steal and enslave negroes was
quite as cruel and unjust as to do the same by Indians.
He spent his life in struggling hard to teach, console,
and protect the Indians, but always in vain. He went
from one place to another, tried one experiment after
another, and failed again and again. As time went on,
the Indian race perished under the savage brutality of
the gold-hunting Spaniards in the West Indian Islands;
while negroes snatched from the coast of Africa filled
up the place they had left empty ; and gangs of black
slaves worked in the gold mines, pearl fisheries, and
plantations of sugar, spices, and cotton.

CHAP. VII.— THE FIRST SIGHT OF THE
PACIFIC.

HERE was coming out from Hispaniola, under the
leadership of a lawyer named Enciso, afresh party
to assist in founding the colony of St. Sebastian on
the coast of South America. Alonzo de Ojeda, who
attempted that settlement, had invited Enciso to join
him, and tendered him the office of alcalde in the new
city. The expedition of Enciso had not been long at
sea when the crew of one of the vessels were amazed
by a large cask which stood on deck suddenly being
opened. Out of it came Vasco Nunez de Balboa, a
Spanish gentleman who had been a settler in His-
paniola, and had there got into debt and difficulty,
from which he was thus making his escape.

Enciso was not at all pleased with the mode in which
this volunteer showed himself, but Vasco overcame his
anger, and was the more acceptable since he had the

50 Stories of American History.

experience of a previous voyage along the coast. The
expedition touched at the harbour of Carthagena, where
Ojeda met so hostile a reception, but managed to avoid
collision with the natives. Enciso was here sur-
prised by the arrival of a vessel in command of Fran-
cisco Pizarro, whom Ojeda had left as his deputy at St.
Sebastian. The vessel had on board all who survived
of the garrison of St. Sebastian, having been compelled
by starvation and danger to abandon that post. Enciso,
by his authority as alcalde of St. Sebastian, induced
Pizarro and his men to return to that post with him.
They found the fort dismantled, the climate dreadful,
and the natives so fierce that it was no use to stay
there. Vasco advised moving on to the river of
Darien, where the natives were less fierce, and did not
poison their arrows. The advice was taken, the move
was made, and the Spaniards drove the Indians from
a village on the banks of the River Darien. Enciso
took possession of the place, and gave it the name of
Santa Maria. The colonists soon divided into factions.
Vasco and Enciso quarrelled, and at last Vasco, who
was the favourite of the soldiers, threw Enciso into
prison, for, as he said, taking the government without
proper appointment. Enciso, however, had friends
powerful enough to oblige Vasco to let him go back to
Spain and plead his cause.

The First Sight of the Pacific. 5 1

Left alone in the command, Vasco de Balboa made a
visit to Careta, Cacique of Coyba, who hospitably re-
ceived him. He repaid his kindness by returning at
night after a pretended departure, seizing the cacique,
his wives and children, loading two vessels with
plunder, and taking his captives and his booty with
him to Santa Maria. He showed to his prisoner his war-
horses, armour, and guns, and the Indian was so im-
pressed with the power of the Spaniard, that he offered
him his daughter as the price and pledge of peace.
Balboa, seeing the convenience of an alliance with a
powerful chieftain, accepted the daughter; and a com-
pact was made by which the chieftain agreed to furnish
food for the colonists, and Balboa to subdue the chief-
tain's enemy, with whom he was then at war. Balboa
performed his part of the contract, subduing the cacique
his father-in-law's enemy, and ravaging his territory.
He was royally entertained after his victory by Careta.

Balboa next paid a visit to a friendly cacique named
Comagre, who hospitably welcomed him, and showed
him his palace. It was a wonderful place, one hundred
and fifty paces long and eighty broad, founded on great
logs, surrounded with a stone wall, and covered with a
beautifully carved roof. It had many chambers for
different kinds of stores ; and one hall contained the
remains of the cacique's family, which had been dried

52 Stories of American History.

in the fire and then wrapped in cotton, adorned with
gold and precious stones, and hung up by cords. The
cacique gave Balboa four thousand ounces of gold made
up into ornaments. Of this he weighed out a fifth for
the King's share, and divided the rest in equal shares
with his followers. The cacique was surprised and
shocked at their fierce eagerness over the division.
He pointed to the south, and told Balboa that if he
cared so much for gold, he would find abundance
beyond the mountains. From their tops could be
seen a mighty sea, and all the streams that flowed into
it so abounded in gold that the kings who reigned
there used only golden vessels, and indeed gold was
as common among them as iron was among the
Spaniards.

He added that the way was difficult and dangerous,
and beset with cannibal Indians ; but all this was
nothing to Vasco. He sent for provisions and recruits
to Don Diego, son of Christopher Columbus, who was
then governing at St. Domingo, in Hispaniola. Mean-
while he received private advices from Spain that
Enciso had succeeded in the suit against him, and that
he would be summoned to Spain to answer criminal
charges. He was resolved to set forth before the
official news should arrive, or factions at Darien pre-
vent him. He moved on the expedition with one

The First Sight of the Pacific. 53

hundred and ninety of his bravest men, a number of
Indians furnished by the cacique his father-in-law, and
also a pack of bloodhounds. These terrible dogs had
been trained by the cruel Spaniards to hunt down and
fly at the poor runaway Indians, and were looked on
by them with the utmost horror and dread. Vasco
Nunez had one of these dogs, named Leonico, im-
mensely strong, tawny, with a black muzzle ; and so
brave and so much feared by the Indians, that when
his master lent him to a plundering party, he received
for him a share of the booty equal to that of a man-at-
arms.

The journey was a very hard one. The Spaniards
had to climb rugged precipices, and fight with tribes
of Indians ; and so many men were lost, or had to be
sent back to the village of the friendly cacique, that
only sixty-seven men were with Vasco Nunez when,
on the 26th of September, 1513, he climbed the last
height alone, and beheld before him the unbroken ex-
panse of the mighty Western Ocean. He called his
followers to his side, pointed it out, and bade them
thank God. A friar who was among them led the Te
Deum of rejoicing, and a list was drawn up of those
who first beheld this great sight. The names of
Ferdinand, King of Arragon, and his daughter Juana,
Queen of Castile, were carved on the great trees around.

54 Stories of American History.

The Spaniards had still a long way to go before they
reached the shores of the great sea. They fought with
an Indian cacique named Chiapes, but overcame him,
and Vasco Nunez made him into a warm friend.
When at last he came to the shore, Balboa waded into
the water above his knees, and took possession of the
ocean for the sovereigns of Spain. The spot was in
the Bay of Panama, close to the Gulf of San Miguel,
the name given by Vasco Nunez himself, intending to
consecrate the mighty ocean to St. Michael, the arch-
angel. After a time Vasco undertook to build a fleet
with which to navigate the Western or Pacific Ocean.
He caused the timber to be cut and prepared at Acla,
a town founded at a port in the country of his father-
in-law. Careta favoured his purpose, and accorded
assistance. The ship-timber and other material was
carried on the backs of Indians over the mountains
and across the Isthmus of Darien. It was a cruel
scheme, for the work was far too hard for the Indians
whom he forced into doing it, supplying their places
with others as fast as they died of the toil.

Meanwhile, the representations of Enciso at the
court of Spain had resulted in the appointment of Don
Pedro Arias Davila, commonly called Pedrarias, as
Governor of Darien, with power to depose Vasco
Nunez and call him to account for his treatment of

The First Sight of the Pacific. 55

Enciso. After the sailing of Pedrarias from Spain the
messengers from Nunez arrived there, bringing news
of his great discovery, and presents to the King of
pearls and golden ornaments. Pedrarias arrived at
his new government, and proved harsh and cruel to
the Indians. Now Vasco knew how to make them
trust him, and be friendly ; and the contrast between
the two Spanish commanders added daily to their
mutual dislike. Before Pedrarias could attempt to
depose a popular favourite, a commission arrived from
Spain appointing Vasco Nunez de Balboa, Adelantado
or Lieutenant in the government, in recognition of his
valuable discoveries and successes. Pedrarias was
implacable. He induced Balboa to leave the Pacific
coast, where he had begun to make explorations in his
new ships, He invited him to a friendly conference at
Acla, where Francisco Pizarro was deputed to arrest
him. He was accused as a traitor and usurper of
the territories of the Spanish Crown, and of an inten-
tion to put to sea with the squadron in the Pacific and
defy the governor. Upon these charges Vasco Nunez
was convicted and beheaded, with four of his friends.
Thus perished this brave and generally kind and faith-
ful man, one of the most illustrious of the Spanish
adventurers, when only forty- two years old, and just
about to sail on the great ocean he had discovered.

CHAP. VIII.— THE WAY INTO THE
PACIFIC.

1520.

tHE kings who had refused to attend to Columbus
were much disappointed when they found how
far from a mere wild-goose chase his plans had
been. Henry VII. of England had sent out an ex-
pedition, under a Venetian father and son, named
Cabot, who, in 1496-8, touched at the island which
still bears the name of Newfoundland, and coasted
along the continent of North America, from Labrador
to Florida. As no signs of gold were found, nothing
more was for some time done by the English.

The Portuguese king, Don Manuel, was also
eager to make discoveries. Vasco de Gama had
rounded Africa, and Pope Eugene IV. had granted
the Portuguese a right to all the new lands they
might discover. This power the Popes claimed
as Vicars of Christ, because of those prophecies

The IVay into the Pacific. 57

of the Old Testament, which speak of the king-
dom of Christ stretching to the east and west, from
one sea to another. Ferdinand and Isabella asked
also the papal sanction, and Pope Alexander VI.
fixed as a boundary a line running from pole to
pole, three hundred leagues to the westward of
the Azores. All the lands eastward of this were
granted to Portugal, and all to the westward to Spain.
An expedition was sent out from Portugal in 1500,
under Don Pedro Alvarez Cabral. It was intended
to go to India, and was sent off in great state from
Lisbon, with solemn blessings by the clergy, the com-
mander receiving a cap sent by the Pope himself.
However, when they had passed the Cape Verd
Islands, a strong wind drove them away from Africa,
across the Atlantic, till they came to what they took
for a large island. The natives came down to the
beach, wearing crowns of brightly-coloured feathers,
but no clothes, and their copper skins were painted in
many hues. They had white bones through their
ears and cheeks, and a great hole in the under lip, in
which some wore a stone and some thrust out the
tongue. Their eye-lashes, eye-brows, and beards had
all been pulled out. They were spoken to in Negro
language and Arabic, but of course answered to
neither ; though two, who were afterward caught in a

58 Stories of American History.

canoe, did better understand the language of beads and
looking-glasses. For these they gave in exchange
fruit, maize, and the flour of the root of the mandioc
shrub, which we still know as " arrow-root."

On Easter Sunday a large body of the Portuguese
landed, and a solemn mass was celebrated, the natives
hovering about, and imitating the gestures of the
Portuguese. Cabral set up a large stone cross, and
took possession of the country for his king, naming
it Santa Cruz. He left behind him two men. It
was the custom of the discoverers of those times to
take from the prisons men under sentence of death,
and leave them behind among the natives, to take
their chance, learn the language, and prepare for new-
comers.

The ships then went on to India, and on their
return to Portugal, King Manuel sent out three ships
under Amerigo Vespucci. These fell in with a few
more savage tribes, who killed and devoured three
of the sailors, whom they had made prisoners ; one of
them actually in view of his horrified comrades in the
boats, before whom the savages held up pieces of his
limbs. Vespucci sailed along a great length of coast,
and then, as it was late in the year, crossed to Africa.

In 1503, Amerigo, still intending to go to India, sailed
with six ships, and was driven upon the coast which he

The U^ay into the Pacific. 59

had already visited. Five of these vessels were lost,
and Vespucci, landing, remained five months, made
friends with the natives, and built a fort. One of the
five vessels lost was wrecked, and her crew were
taken off. The other four were never heard from. In
the fort he left twenty-four men who had been saved
from the wreck. As before, he took home a cargo of
gums and spices, and a red wood, already known to
the Portuguese, and much prized by them. It was
called, from its colour, brazil, or burning wood, and
the country came to be named Brazil, instead of the
name, given at first, of Santa Cruz. Many adventurers
went out thither to obtain this wood, with the abundant
gums and spices. Monkeys and parrots were also
among the imports of the early navigators into Europe.
An expedition was fitted out in Spain to sail for
Brazil, under Amerigo Vespucci, but it never set forth.
Vespucci had entered the service of the King of Spain,
however, and received a liberal salary as principal
pilot, preparing charts and sailing directions. He
died in 1512, his widow was pensioned, and his son
was taken into royal favour. Shortly after his last
return from Brazil, he wrote a letter, giving an account
of his voyages. This letter was published, not however
at Vespucci's instance, and the publisher suggested the
name of America for the newly-discovered continent.

60 Stories of American History.

It became a subject of dispute between Spain and
Portugal to whom Brazil belonged. But as the coast
of Brazil was clearly to the east of the line established
by the Pope, the Portuguese claimed it ; while Spain
construed the papal decree to mean that all lands
discovered by sailing west belonged to her. In 1511,
Don Juan Diaz de Solis sailed from Spain, still hunt-
ing for the western passage to India. Sailing along
the coast of the continent to the south, he came to
what he took for a sea of fresh water, but was really
the mouth of a great river, the Rio de la Plata. Going
ashore with a small party, he was cut off by the
natives, who broke forth from an ambush, shattered
the boat with their clubs, killed every man who had
landed, then carried their bodies to a place within
sight of the ships, cooked and devoured them. The
terrified explorers returned at once to Spain.

In 1519, Fernando de Magelhaens or Magellan, a
Portuguese mariner in the service of Spain, sailed with
five Spanish ships from Seville. He followed the
coast of South America, looking still for the western
passage to India. In the mouth of the La Plata,
where poor Solis had fallen, he thought he had found
it, but discovering his mistake he proceeded south.
He found some gigantic people, whom he called Pata-
gonians, because he fancied their feet were patas or

The IVay to the Pacific. 61

pads, like those of lions or dogs. He passed the
straits, which still bear his name, between the land of
the Patagonians and a bare volcanic island, which he
named Tierra del Fuego, or land of fire. The difficult
and dangerous passage occupied twenty days, and he
came out into the southern part of the ocean which
Balboa had seen from the Isthmus of Darien. He
found the ocean so peaceful that he named it the
Pacific. Sailing onwards, he did what Columbus had
aimed at, for he reached the most eastward of the
islands of Asia, and thus nearly came round from
extreme west to extreme east. He did not live, how-
ever, to tell the tale. Touching at a fruitful group of
islands, where his crew were refreshed, but which he
called the Ladrones, from the thievish character of the
inhabitants, he next proceeded to the group now known
as the Philippines. Here, in resisting an attack from a
large body of the natives, Magellan was killed, with
several of his officers. But the survivors continued
the voyage, and visited the Portuguese settled in the
East, to their extreme astonishment. One of the fleet of
five vessels with which Magellan sailed from Spain
reached home again on the 7th of September, 1522 ;
having made the first voyage round the globe in three
years and twenty-eight days.

CHAP. IX.— THE AZTEC EMPIRE.

tHE desire of finding the great empire, full of
gold, of which the Indians spoke, still drew on
adventurer after adventurer. In the year 1518 Fer-
nando Cortes, a Spanish gentleman of Estremadura,
obtained from the Governor of Cuba a fleet of seven
ships, with a force of five hundred and fifty soldiers,
twelve or fifteen horses, and ten brass cannon, where-
with to seek this wonderful place. It was quite true
that there was such an empire. Indeed, there were
two such lands of gold : one in North America, called
Anahuac ; the other, named Peru, in the mountains of
South America. The inhabitants of Anahuac were
called Aztecs. They were not like the wild Indians
on the coast, but dwelt in cities, had temples, a priest-
hood, and a regular form of government with an
emperor at its head. They had good roads and
regular communication between city and city. Though

The Aztec Empire. 63

they had no alphabet they recorded their history in
a sort of hieroglyphic work, painted in brilliant colours
on cloth, or on prepared skins, or on paper made from
the aloe plant. They had also pictures in feather-
work, with which their palaces were hung. Iron was
not known among them, and their tools and weapons
were of copper, tin, and sharpened stones ; their vessels
either of clay, earthenware, or of gold and silver.

They had many gods ; thirteen principal ones, and
more than two hundred of lesser rank, with a numerous
body of priests. Their temples were sometimes like
pyramids, with steps on the outside, and broad terraces
at different stages ; but instead of finishing in a point,
there was a broad flat space on the top, where stood
two towers with the images of the gods in them. In
front of each was an altar, and the stone of sacrifice,
on which, unhappily, the victims were human beings —
generally captives taken in war. They were laid flat
on the stone, and their hearts cut out and cast at
the feet of the idol. Little children, wreathed with
flowers, were carried in litters to the temple of the
god of rain, and there sacrificed ; and the corpses were
feasted upon in banquets, served up with the choicest
cookery and splendid ornaments. It is reckoned that
not less than twenty thousand human beings perished
each year in this manner.

64 Stories of American History.

Yet the Aztecs lived in considerable civilization,
and understood many of the sciences, in their own
method, especially arithmetic and astronomy. They
farmed every inch of land in their mountainous
country, growing Indian corn, banana, and cocoa
(whence was made chocolate), and the great aloe, or
maguey. The juice of this plant was fermented into
a liquor called pulque. The fibres of the leaves
formed thread and cordage ; the thorns, pins and
needles; the leaves made thatch when whole, and
could be pounded into a paste whence paper could
be made. The garments of the Aztecs were woven of
the thread of the aloe, of cotton, and of hair ; but their
most beautiful work was in the feather hangings,
where the lovely tints of all the tropical birds were
used to make exquisite pictures. Their houses were
built round large courts, in which beautiful flowers
were grown. Their feasts, served in gold and silver
dishes, were as regularly conducted and as ceremo-
niously as any in Europe. Mexico itself, the capital,
was one of the most beautiful cities that ever existed.
It stood on islands in a great salt lake, shut in with
a great circle of mountains. Three broad causeways
led to it ; and the streets were some of them of water,
some of land, some of them with footways bordering
canals. Lovely gardens, trees, and flowers adorned

The Aztec Empire. 65

it ; the numerous temples, and the splendid palace and
garden of the Emperor crowned it.

In spite of their horrible religion, the Aztecs were
a well-ordered nation, and loved poetry and art, and
all that is graceful and beautiful. They had happy
and peaceful homes, and just laws ; indeed it is thought
that two nations, one savage and the other gentle, had
become blended into one ; and that the custom of
offering fruits and flowers remained from a better form
of worship, which had been overcome by the frightful
custom of human sacrifices.

The Aztecs had quantities of writings in their own
picture fashion. Though most of these were de-
stroyed, a history was copied from such as were spared.
The process was to write the meaning of the symbols
in the Mexican language with the letters of the
alphabet. This copy was then translated into Spanish.
From these records it is known that they had a long
line of kings, some of whom had been very wise and
just, as well as brave and magnificent. They were
religious men, too, who thought much, as even the
Greek philosophers did, of the hope that good and
virtuous men may be blessed after their life here
is over.

Anahuac, at the arrival of Cortes, was divided into
three kingdoms — Tezcuco, Tlascala, and Mexico.

66 Stories of American History.

Tezcuco had the best and noblest kings, and had
been the most powerful kingdom. The Tezcucan
kings dwelt on the east shore of the great lake, oppo-
site to the city of Mexico, and had had about three
centuries of war and rivalry with the Mexicans till,
just before the Spaniards found their way to America,
the last of the great and good Tezcucan kings, Neza-
hualpilli, was overcome by fraud and force by his
neighbour Montezuma, King of Mexico, and lost great
part of his dominions. When the Tezcucan pined
away and died, Montezuma took to himself the title of
king over other kings, which the Spaniards translated
" Emperor." It was he who was reigning in Anahuac,
and at war with the Tlascalans, when Cortes set forth
to find the great golden empire.

CHAP. X.- THE CONQUEST OF MEXICO.

1521.

foRTES was preceded by two adventurers in
Mexican discovery, Fernandes de Cordova and
Juan de Grijalva. Each prepared the way for the
next ; and it was their reports of the wealth in
gold which caused the more powerful expedition of
Cortes to be fitted out. Grijalva coasted from Yucatan
as far north as Panuco, in the department now called
Vera Cruz. The first place at which Cortes landed
was at the mouth of the river Grijalva, as it is
sometimes called, in honour of that discoverer. It is
now marked on the charts as the Rio de Tabasco,
from the name of the district which it traverses. As
the natives had shown a fierce disposition to repel
their previous Spanish visitors, they came down in
strong force to oppose Cortes. When the Spaniards
fired their guns, the Indians threw dust in the air
that the Spaniards might not see the damage they

68 Stories of American History.

were doing. But victory was sure to be where there
were horses and fire-arms. The Tabascans submitted,
and brought Cortes twenty girls, as slaves, to crush
their maize, and make bread of the flour. One of
these girls was an Aztec chiefs daughter. She was
christened Marina, and became a most useful and
faithful interpreter to Cortes. Sailing farther along
the coast, they landed at 'San Juan de Ulua, an island
which commands the harbour of Vera Cruz, and which
had been visited and named by Grijalva. Here, for
the first time, they heard of Montezuma as a great
emperor, far inland. He had sent messengers to ask
what these strangers were doing on his coast. Cortes
answered that they had been sent by their king to
treat with Montezuma, and meant to see him. This,
the messengers said, was impossible. But when Cortes
insisted, they said they would send to their prince for
an answer, and began drawing pictures of the Spaniards
to send him. Whereupon Cortes had all his troops
drawn out, caused his horsemen to make a grand
charge upon the sands, and the cannon to be fired ;
so that indeed they had some strange pictures to send.
He also bade them tell Montezuma that he and his
companions had a complaint of the heart which could
only be cured by gold. Montezuma refused to see
this stranger, but sent him presents that did but whet

The Conquest of Mexico. 69

the appetite of all those who had that dangerous com-
plaint of the heart, namely, a sum of gold and many
other precious things.

Cortes was absolutely resolved to make his way to
see the emperor ; and that no one might be able to
turn back, he ordered his ships to be burned. He had
founded a city, which he called Vera Cruz, where he
left all that he did not want on his march under
the charge of the weaker men. It was much in the
favour of Cortes that the countries round the coast
were held in subjection by the Mexicans, and hated
them ; so even though they had begun by fighting
against Cortes, they were willing to join with him
against Montezuma as soon as they had felt his
strength. The first thing Cortes always did was to
stop the horrible human sacrifices, clear the temples
of blood, set up a cross, and charge the priests to
guard it, and then to make the people vassals to King
Charles of Spain.

Tlascala was a great republic, tributary to Monte-
zuma. It had a large and beautiful capital, with a
wall nine feet high and twenty broad, measuring six
miles in length. The people became the allies of
Cortes, and some thousands of them came on with
him on the march to Mexico. There was much
fighting on the way, but Cortes held on until he had

70 Stories of American History.

reached the great causeway, and from the heights
looked down into the great valley of Mexico. The
sight of the wonderful city, full of gardens rising up
from the lakes, was so marvellously and surpassingly
beautiful that the soldiers stood still, and asked one
another if they were awake, the scene was so like a
dream, or like the enchanted castles and gardens they
had read of in romances.

Montezuma had found it vain to try to stop
these strangers, so he had promised to receive their
leader. Cortes, with all the splendour he could
muster, rode to meet him at the gate, between rows
of Mexican lords, who saluted the new comer by
laying their hands in the dust and then kissing them.
Montezuma stood leaning on the arms of his brother
and nephew, wearing on his head plumes of the royal
green which floated down his back. He had on gilded
sandals, and a mantle rich with gold and precious
stones, while over his head four nobles held a canopy,
the ground-work of which was of green feathers, with
the richest embroidery of gold, pearls, and precious
stones in fringes and drops. Cortes, dismounting,
advanced, and was received with princely courtesy.
There was an exchange of presents, a feast, and a
conference, with the Indian girl Marina for an inter-
preter. Cortes explained the Christian Faith and the

The Conquest of Mexico. 71

Divine Law, and tried to make Montezuma accept
them. The Emperor was so grandly polite and
courteous, and unwilling to contradict a guest, that
the Spaniards hoped he was succeeding. But when
the Emperor took Cortes to see his great temple, on
the platform at the top of many stairs, the Spaniards
were sickened and shocked. The place looked and
smelt like a slaughter-house ; and before one idol lay
five, before another three, human hearts, torn out that
morning. Cortes showed his horror, and tried to
speak of better things ; but Montezuma was grieved
at the dishonour done to his gods, who, he said, gave
him victory, wealth, good harvests, and all he needed,
and deserved to have offerings made to them. To
Cortes it seemed a clear duty to win the country for
Christ and for Spain. He did not trust the Aztecs,
and he resolved to get their emperor into his own
hands. There had been a little fight between the
people he had left at Vera Cruz and their neighbours,
and this he made an excuse for surprising Montezuma,
and keeping him in the Spanish quarters as a hostage
for his people. It was one of the most amazing acts
of boldness ever done, but it succeeded.

Montezuma was cowed, and finding his only chance
of safety was to give his allegiance to Spain, he sent
for his nobles, and called on them to consent. They

72 Stories of American History.

wept bitterly, but gave way, and for some months
Montezuma continued to be still their emperor, though
closely watched by the Spaniards. New difficulties
and dangers arose for Cortes. Velasquez, Governor
of Cuba, had become his enemy, and sent out an
expedition, under Panfilo de Narvaez, to depose and
arrest him. By fighting and defeating the army of
Narvaez, and winning the soldiers to his cause, Cortes
kept his command. Returning to Mexico, he found
the Aztecs up in arms against the Spanish garrison.
A massacre of the inhabitants while celebrating a feast
had maddened them. The Spaniards were besieged
in their quarters, and fearful encounters took place
whenever they ventured forth. The destruction of a
temple which overlooked the Spanish quarters added
to the fury of the Aztecs ; but from its upper stage
the Mexicans had thrown arrows upon the Spaniards,
and when a Spaniard was made prisoner, his country-
men had seen him dragged up the side of one of these
temples to die a horrid death before the idols. As
Montezuma had professed allegiance to Spain, and was
still in the hands of Cortes, he could call the rising of
the Mexicans a rebellion. He brought out the un-
fortunate prince to address the people. They listened
for a little while, but then flung stones and shot arrows.
Three struck Montezuma, and in a few days he died

The Conquest of Mexico. 73

of grief, or of his wounds, the Spaniards having tried
in vain to make him confess himself a Christian.

The Spaniards were compelled to leave the city of
Mexico, but made their retreat under great difficulty. A
new king, by name Guatemozin, was set up, and Cortes
had to besiege Mexico, and carry on a dreadful war,
before, on the i3th of August, 1521, he finally took the
great lake city, and the Aztec Empire, with all its spoils
of gold, silver, and pearls, was added to the realms of
Spain. The city of Mexico withstood a siege of three
months, in which uncounted thousands died by war
and famine. Its conquest was effected by the aid of
native allies of Spain, enemies of Mexico. The cap-
ture of Guatemozin ended the resistance of his subjects.
Three years later he was hung by Cortes on a charge
of conspiracy. So perished the last of the Aztec
kings. The country thus conquered was named New
Spain.

CHAP. XL— THE CONVERSION OF
MEXICO.

1529.

5§j\ON FERNANDO CORTES, the man who had
d^ conquered Mexico, was great, both in patience
and ability. However much he might be provoked
he never said a hasty word, though one vein in his
forehead and another in his throat used to swell with
wrath. He was a devout man after his fashion, reli-
gious and loyal, who meant to work for the honour of
God and the king ; and he sent at once for a bishop
and clergy to convert the Aztecs, and hold service in
the churches. And though he did hard and cruel things
at times, it was always in the way of what he thought
his duty. But there were ten plagues in New Spain
which made terrible havoc of the Aztecs, and were thus
counted up by a monk, who was a friend of Cortes :
(i) smallpox ; (2) the slaughter in the war ; (3) famine
after the war ; (4) Indian and Negro overseers ; (5)

The Conversion of Mexico. 75

the heavy tribute demanded from the Indians ; (6) the
gold mines ; (7) the rebuilding of Mexico ; (8) the
making of slaves to work in the mines ; (9) the car-
riage of metals from the mines; (10) the quarrels of
the Spaniards.

The false accusers had gone home to Spain, and
there was terrible jealousy of Cortes. A judge was
sent out to hold a court and try him ; but after waiting
seventeen days not a single charge of any act of dis-
honesty, selfishness, or disloyalty was brought. How-
ever, he went over to see the King of Spain, who had
by this time been elected as the Emperor Charles V.
All falsehoods about him were confuted as soon as the
Emperor actually saw and heard him ; and he went
back to Mexico as Captain-General of the army, though
not as Governor. He took a wife back with him, and
obtained large estates in Mexico. The great Mexican
and Tlascalan chiefs and landowners, who chose to make
friends with the Spaniards and become Christians, were
not deprived of their property ; and the Aztec race did
not melt away, as the Indians of the isles had done,
but a mixed population grew up — Spanish, Indian, and
Negro, mingled together in strange ways.

All this time the great desire of Cortes was to find
the way over the mountains to the southern sea that
Vasco Nunez de Balboa had seen. The tribes in the

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mountains, who had been in the fear of the great
Emperors of Mexico, offered submission ; and through
their states the Pacific Ocean was reached in 1522,
about one thousand miles above the spot where Balboa
had first beheld it. Guatemala, which means in Aztec,
" the place of decayed wood," a country as civilized as
Mexico, situate on the western coast, received and
submitted to Pedro de Alvarado, an officer of Cortes.
Twelve Dominican and twelve Franciscan friars were
sent out from Spain to attend to the conversion of the
Aztecs. They were received with great respect by
Cortes, who bent his knee and kissed their hands,
while the Indians, amazed at his condescension to
barefooted men, in rough serge, with ropes around
their waists, cried out, " Motolinia," which means
" poor." As poverty is said to have been the bride of
St. Francis, one of these brethren was so delighted
with the name that he took it for his own, and was
ever after called Father Toribio Motolinia. He spent
his life in teaching, catechising, and converting the
Aztecs, and is said to have baptized four hundred
thousand of them. Another was a Fleming, Peter of
Ghent, who thought himself unworthy to be anything
but a lay brother, but who spent fifty years in kind and
gentle training of the Mexicans. He built with their
help a large school, where he was the first to teach

The Conversion of Mexico. 77

them to read, write, play on musical instruments, paint
and carve like the Flemings at home. He could
preach if no priest was at hand, and he persuaded
many an Aztec to destroy his idols. He was altogether
a man of such influence that the archbishop once
said, " I am not Archbishop of Mexico, but Brother
Peter of Ghent is." In his old age he thought it a
temptation of the evil one that he felt the yearnings of
home-sickness, and longed above all to hear his native
Flemish : but he stayed at his post in Mexico all his
life, and died there.

Grievous deeds were done by the greedy Spaniards,
and suffered by the natives, as the conquest of Mexico
was followed by that of Central America. But, on the
whole, things were not so shocking as in Hispaniola
and Cuba. Las Casas had come to the mainland, and
so testified against the violence, of the Spaniards, that
for some years he was forbidden to preach. He also
published a treatise, in which he declared, first, that
the Indians ought to be made Christians by love and
good teaching, not by slavery and violence ; and, next,
that even if they refused, that did not make it right to
make war on them and enslave them. He was laughed
at by the Spaniards, and told that his plans of persua-
sion were mere folly. The Spaniards derisively chal-
lenged him to try.

78 Stories of American History.

Now there was, near Guatemala, a district where the
people were so fierce that the Spaniards had named it
the Land of War, for they had three times been driven
back from it. Las Casas actually signed and sealed an
agreement with the Emperor Charles V., that he would
bring this place to be Christian and to submit to him,
if no soldiers, or colonists, or any other Spaniards,
except those connected with the Government, were
allowed to enter the country for five years.

The first thing Las Casas did was to choose some
good Dominicans. With fasts and prayers they pre-
pared themselves. Then they drew up, in verse, in
the language of the country, an account of the Crea-
tion, the Fall, the Redemption, the work of the Holy
Ghost, and the Last Judgment. They taught these
poems to some Christian Indian pedlars, who used to
carry wares into the land of war every year, and who
sang them with all their hearts. The people listened,
and the pedlars then told of the holy lives of the good
Fathers who had taught them, and could explain more.
So well did these native missionaries do their work,
that a young chief actually besought that the Fathers
would come to him. Father Luis Canea, who knew
the language best, was sent, and was welcomed with
arches of triumph, flowers strewn, and every honour.
A church was built for his ministrations, and chiefs

The Conversion of Mexico.

79

and people came in. With great difficulty the pious
Fathers did contrive to keep out the worst violence of
the Spaniards, and the country which had once been
the land of war, was named Vera Paz, or True Peace,
and the Indians there have ever since been a Christian,
peaceful, flourishing race.

CHAP XII.— THE INCAS OF PERU.

1524.

( MOTHER Spanish soldier, unfortunately of very
different mould from Cortes, set forth on another
quest for the land of gold, following in the track of
Vasco Nunez de Balboa. This man was Francisco
Pizarro, who had already made one of numerous ad-
venturous parties in journeys of discovery ; and was
fully imbued with that horrid Spanish notion, which
the priests and monks were always resisting, that
heathen Indians deserved no better treatment than
brute beasts.

The country to which he was bent on making his
way was Peru, which lies on the western side of South
America, sloping upwards from the Pacific Ocean, to
where the Andes, the " Giants of the Western Star,"
rise up into thin air and cold, beyond where man, beast,
or plant can live. The people there thought them-
selves the Children of the Sun, whom they worshipped
above all ; but not with human sacrifices, like the

The Incas of Peru. 8 1

Aztecs. They were a much more gentle people, and
their principal sacrifice on the chief feast-day was only
a black lamb. They thought the moon was the sun's
wife, the planet Venus his page ; and they had hosts
of other deities, whose golden images filled their great
temples. There were great colleges of priests, and
of virgins dedicated to the sun. The first studied
astronomy, and offered the sacrifices and led the
worship ; the maidens prepared the sacred bread that
was given out to the people at the feasts, sang songs,
and led dances in honour of the sun. The prince of
the country was styled the Inca, and was supposed to
be the living representative of the sun, his forefather.
He could only marry in his own family. The Inca
was a sacred person, ruling with such wise, fatherly
care, that as we read of old Peru, in the Commentaries
of Garcilasso de la Vega, we cannot help thinking that
he could only have heard the best side of the story.
De la Vega was born in Peru, and his mother belonged
to the Inca family.

There was no money in Peru, no private estates.
Everything belonged to the Inca, as Child of the Sun ;
all the land, the metals, and the flocks of lamas,
guanacos and alpacas, which served as horses, cattle,
and sheep. Every year the land was freshly portioned
out, according to the number of each family, with a

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reserve for the sun and the Inca. The rent was to be
personal service paid to the Inca, in tilling his lands
and those of the sun. Their produce maintained the
priests, and supplied the sick and helpless, and if there
were any remainder, it was stored up against case of
scarcity. The animals were distributed in like manner,
and their wool was given out by the Inca every two
years, to supply the nation with clothing. Some of
the tribute of labour was employed in building the
temples and palaces of the great city of Cuzco ; and
some in making and keeping up wonderful roads all
over the country, in the heights of the Andes, which
were crossed by strings of lamas, bearing gold and
silver in baskets on their backs.

The country was like one large family, and, as there
was no private property, stealing was unknown. Each
household helped its neighbours to cultivate the
ground, and public feasts were held every two or three
months, to which every one was invited, and where
there were songs and dances. Officers were sent forth
by the Inca to watch that no one was idle, down to the
child of five years old ; and each householder was
commanded to keep his doors open when he was at
dinner, that the royal inspectors might look in and see
whether the family were behaving properly, and living
according to their rank.

The Incas of Peru. 83

The Peruvians kept their records by a number of
cords, which they called quipus. The colour of threads
in a quipu, and the patterns in which they were knotted
together, had meanings given them, which made them
answer the purpose of writing. In them the laws and
history of the kingdom were preserved, and also some
poetry. The Peruvians seem to have acted plays at their
great festivals ; but they had not, on the whole, made
so much progress in science and literature as the Aztecs.

The last Inca who had reigned before the Spaniards
found Peru had conquered the province of Quito, and
had made a most wonderful road along the mountains
from thence to Cuzco. He had married a daughter of
the lord of Quito, and had a son, whom he named
Atahualpa, or Sweet Valour. But this youth had not
equal rights with the elder son, Huascar, or the Golden
Chain, whose mother was one of the Daughters of the
Sun, the only right wives for the Inca.

Atahualpa was, however, a favourite with the people,
and obtained his grandfather's country of Quito on his
father's death. Huascar took up arms against him, but
was defeated by the chief general of Quito, Quizquiz,
who made him prisoner, and put to death a great
number of the royal race of Cuzco, with a barbarity
which does not look as if the Peruvians were quite as
gentle as they have been represented.

84 Stories of American History.

It was at this time, when Peru was thus disturbed
by the quarrel between the brothers, that Francisco
Pizarro, a brave, rough man, unable even to write his
name, agreed with his friend, Diego de Almagro, to
seek for the riches of the south ; and with a school-
master named Fernando de Luque, they induced the
Governor of Panama, Pedrarias, to let them buy a ship,
and enlist men for the expedition. In 1524, Pizarro,
with eighty men and some horses, set forth in one ship
and two canoes, coasting along southwards, and suffer-
ing terribly for want of food ; so that they named one
spot where they landed the Port of Hunger. Almagro
followed with another ship, and found them in a
wretched state. But they were wonderfully patient
and resolute, and would not give up their attempt —
especially as some prisoners they had made told them
of the land of gold in the mountains. At last, after
untold sufferings and labours, they became quite sure
of the existence of the great empire, and that all that
was wanting was the means of winning it. A second
expedition confirmed these impressions, and also con-
vinced Pizarro that the needed means and authority
must be sought in Spain.

CHAP. XIII.— THE CONQUEST OF PERU.

1532.
^RANCISCO PIZARRO went home to Spain,

^ FIAT

^&% made his way to court, and told his story of the

golden kingdom in the mountains. Nothing in those
days seemed to be too wonderful to be true. The old
device of Spain had been two pillars, representing the
pillars of Hercules — namely, the rocks on either side
of the Straits of Gibraltar — with the motto, Ne Plus
Ultra, "no more beyond.'* Charles V. left out the ne,
so that his badge was Plus Ultra, or, " more beyond ; "
and the ensign of Hispaniola was a horse leaping off a
rock into infinite space.

No doubt crossed any one's mind as to the right of
attacking these distant kings; or rather, the text giving
the Messiah the heathen for His inheritance was mis-
interpreted to mean that His supposed representative,
the Pope, could give away heathen empires to Christian
kings ; nor was there a thought of the cruelty of sending

86 Stories of American History.

a fierce, hard, ignorant man to be a conqueror and ruler.
So Pizarro had the government of Peru granted to
him. The schoolmaster, Fernando de Luque, was
to be Bishop, and Almagro, Judge, or Adelantado.
Pizarro's four brothers sold their Spanish lands and
sailed out to share with him ; but altogether, when he
had come out from Spain and collected his whole forces
at Panama, he had only three ships, thirty-seven
horses, and one hundred and eighty-three men. The
use of the horses was much more to amaze and terrify
the natives than for actual fighting. With this small
party he set forth to win an empire on Innocents Day,
the 28th of December, 1530.

The point for which Pizarro aimed on his third
voyage was Tumbez, near the entrance of the Bay of
Guayaquil, which he had visited before, and where he
had made acquaintance with the Indians, showing
them his power and receiving supplies from Panama.
He was obliged to land some sixty miles to the north
by head winds, and disembarking his troops marched
along the shore, suffering great hardships. Reaching
the Bay of Guayaquil, he occupied the Isle of Nuna,
where his ships rejoined him. On the isle of Nuna
and on the coast of Tumbez he remained over a year,
and was joined by Fernando de Soto with reinforce-
ments. From the Indians of Tumbez he now heard

The Conqitest of Peru. 87

of the war between the two Incas. He sent a deputa-
tion to Atahualpa, who was encamped near the city of
Caxamarca. The deputation returned with an envoy,
bringing presents from the Inca, who seems to have
wished to secure the assistance of the new comers
against his brother Huascar. Without any opposition,
Pizarro marched on to the city of Caxamarca, which
he found deserted. He took possession of the great
square, and thence sent Fernando de Soto and his own
brother Hernando, with about thirty horsemen, to
Atahualpa's camp.

They found the Inca in his quarters, the only person
seated, and wearing on his head what served for a
crown, namely, a cap with an enormous tassel of fine
crimson wool, like silk, which hung down over his eyes,
so that he had to lift it up when he wished to see. He
behaved with much pride and stateliness, and said he
understood the Spaniards were no great warriors, but
that they might go and help his men to subdue a
stubborn race of Indians four miles off. He promised
to come and see Pizarro in his camp in the square of
the city of Caxamarca. On the i6th of November,
1532, the Inca came. Most likely he meant to
surround and capture the strangers, and secure their
arms and horses, for he brought with him five or six
thousand men, apparently unarmed, but with clubs,

88 Stories of American History.

slings, and bags of stone under their cotton dresses.
However, he himself came peacefully, in a litter of plated
silver and gold, adorned with paroquets' feathers. Pizarro
had placed all his men, except about twenty whom he
reserved as his suite or staff, under cover in the
deserted buildings, apparently barracks, which opened
upon the square. When the Inca halted, Pizarro sent
a priest to him to expound, briefly, the whole Christian
doctrine ; from which the priest deduced the fact that it
was the duty of the Inca at once to submit himself to
the Pope and the King of Spain. An Indian interpreter
made such a rendering of the discourse as he could,
and some talk followed, in the course of which the
Inca asked for the breviary which the priest held in
his hand. After glancing at it he threw it down, and
sharply complained of the mischief the Spaniards had
done in their advance. Standing up in his litter he
made signs, and spoke to his people. He was thought
to be calling them to the attack, and Pizarro, with his
followers sprang forward with the Spanish war cry.
It was responded to by the concealed soldiers, who
rushed into the square. Whether they were armed or
not the Indians made no resistance, except immediately
round the royal person. The bearers of the litter
were killed, and the Inca, with all his clothes torn off
in the struggle, was dragged from under the litter and

The Conquest of Peru. 89

made prisoner. A terrible slaughter was made of the
Indians, but the only wound on the other side was
a slight scratch received by Pizarro, from one of his
own men as the conqueror was defending the life of
Atahualpa, whom he preferred to take alive.

The plunder of the camp of the Peruvians was
enormous, and while Pizarro kept Atahualpa prisoner,
Spaniards were sent out to seize and rifle the great
cities and temples of Peru. One hundred and sixty
men had in fact subdued a warlike nation of eleven
millions, by the seizure of their chief. Atahualpa was
at first kept as Montezuma had been, and allowed to
see his courtiers, and to send out orders. Meanwhile
his armies had conquered his brother Huascar, and
made him prisoner. It is not certain that Atahualpa
actually commanded that his brother should be put to
death, but it was done, and though he seemed to
mourn, the Spaniards thought his grief was only
feigned. An enormous ransom in gold was to be paid
by him, and the metal was to be piled on the floor of
an apartment about twenty feet square till it reached a
line nine feet from the floor. While the ransom was yet
incomplete, it was found expedient to divide what had
been received. A fifth was sent to the King of Spain,
and the rest was shared among the soldiers. Almagro,
and a fresh troop of three hundred men, who reached

90 Stories of American History.

Caxamarca about this time, found that they were not by
any means to share on equal terms with the first comers.
They therefore did not want the collection of the
ransom to go on, and wished to be able to plunder for
themselves. So they were bent on the Inca's death,
and there were continual reports that he was secretly
calling on his people to raise an army and deliver
him. This was the natural thing for him to do, but the
Spaniards called it treachery. One night two Indians
came in, and said that a great force was marching on
Caxamarca. Thereupon the Spaniards decided upon
instantly trying the unhappy Peruvian king, according
to the form of their own Spanish law. Of course they
convicted him, and then they sentenced him to death,
and that by fire, unless he would become a Christian.
It was put to the vote whether this cruel sentence
should be carried out, and among four hundred
Spaniards, there were only fifty to vote for the life of
their captive. Atahualpa loudly complained of the
injustice and wickedness of the sentence, but in vain.
He was led out into the great square of Caxamarca,
and there, when he saw the stake and faggots, con-
sented to be baptized.1 This was done, and Juan de

1 August 29. This day is sometimes kept as the day of the be-
heading or martyrdom of John the Baptist. For this reason the
Inca was baptized Juan or John.

The Conquest of Peru. 91

Atahualpa, by which name he was baptized, was then
bound to the stake and strangled. He was buried
with all the honours of a Spaniard and a Christian.

The royal tassel was given to one of his brothers,
who was in the hands of the Spaniards, but who,
before long, pined and died of grief, at the hardness
with which he was treated, and the miseries of his
country. Cuzco, the capital city, was entered with
little difficulty, and there the Spaniards perfectly
gorged themselves with plunder. Above all they
ravaged the great Temple of the Sun, where there was
a huge disc of the sun himself. This was seized by a
common soldier, and gambled away in a single night's
play. There were also figures of men, women, animals,
and plants, such as Indian corn made in solid gold, of
beautiful workmanship. All alike were the prey of
these rude, ignorant men, who melted them down, and
gambled and revelled with the price. And as to the
cruelties suffered by the people, they surpass all
thought or words.

CHAP. XIV.— THE CIVIL WAR IN PERU.
1535-

9

'ON OURS and rewards came forth from Spain
to the conquerors of this new empire. Pizarro
was created a marquis ; and Diego de Almagro a
marshal, and governor of all the country to the south ;
while Valverde, the chaplain, was to be Bishop of
Cuzco. While crowds of Spaniards flocked to Peru,
soldiers, sailors, and adventurers of all kinds, to enjoy
the spoil, a new city was founded by Pizarro, on the
coast. He called it Ciudad de los Reyes, or City of the
Kings, after the three kings or Magi, because it was
founded on the festival of the Epiphany, 1535, but
it took and kept the name of Lima. There was
much dispute between Almagro and the brothers of
Pizarro, who held the government of Cuzco, as to
whether that city belonged to Almagro's jurisdiction or
that of Pizarro. An agreement was reached as the
parties were on the eve of blows, and Almagro set
out to subdue Chili, the country to the south.

The Civil IVar in Peru. 93

Manco, the brother of Huascar, had appealed to
Pizarro as the rightful heir to the throne of the Incas ;
and the Spaniards went through the ceremony of his
coronation, and presented him to his countrymen as
their future sovereign. But he was really held in a
sort of captivity, and demanded the powers as well as
the title of Inca. Making his escape from the
Spaniards, he put himself at the head of his people,
and made desperate attempts to free the land from the
white men, who were cruelly oppressing the whole
country, even beyond the wont of their . nation, and
destroying the temples of their gods. Manco had two
large gold vessels full of the native wine brought
before him, and called on all who tasted it to pledge
themselves that not a Christian should be left alive in
Peru.

Then he attacked Cuzco, where the Spaniards found
themselves in very great danger, and there was fighting
from street to street and house to house, but at last the
assailants were beaten off with terrible slaughter by
Pizarro's three brothers. Manco surrounded Cuzco
with Indian troops, and the Spaniards were besieged
there for several months. Sorties were made, and
there raged a terrible war, in which Spaniards and
Indians killed each other whenever they met; and
among those who fell was Juan Pizarro, one of the

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brothers. Manco Inca withdrew to the mountainous
districts, where he could elude capture, repel assaults,
and reject overtures at treaties ; now hold parleys and
then could descend and harass the Spaniards. One
of the Spanish visitors at his camp, named Gomez
Perez, who was teaching him to play at bowls, on
some dispute about the game, threw a bowl at his
head, which caused his death, thus ending the dynasty
of the Incas.

During these disturbances Almagro came back from
Chili. He had made a miserable journey through the
frozen passes of the Andes, and had met with no
empire and no gold. So he persuaded himself and his
men that Cuzco was part of the government which the
emperor had assigned to him. He came to the walls,
and summoned Fernando Pizarro to give it up to him.
Of course Fernando sent down to Francisco, the
marquis, at Lima, for orders ; but before instructions
could arrive, Almagro crept into the town by night
and filled it with his men. Fernando and Gonzalo
Pizarro defended themselves in the palace of the Incas,
till it was set on fire and the roof began to fall in on
them, when they yielded and were put in chains.
Almagro then prepared to descend to the sea-coast,
and establish a port for himself. He took Fernando
Pizarro with him, leaving Gonzalo under guard in

The Civil IVar in Peru. 95

Cuzco. On his march he learned that Gonzalo had
escaped and joined his brother Francisco, at Lima.
A correspondence now took place between Francisco
Pizarro and Almagro ; an interview was appointed to
be held at Mala, and the dispute to be submitted for
arbitration to a single umpire, Fray Francisco de
Bovadilla. The two old partners met, but not in the
most affectionate manner. Meanwhile it was dis-
covered that Gonzalo Pizarro was moving on Mala
with a body of troops. The conference had become
very like a quarrel, when one of the cavaliers present
gave Almagro notice by singing from an old ballad :

" Time it is, Sir Knight, I say,
Time it is them wert away."

Another brought a horse to the door, on which
Almagro mounted and galloped off. The marquis
declared that he did not know of his brother's advance.
Almagro did not believe him ; and when Fray Bova-
dilla decided that Cuzco must be surrendered to
Pizarro until a scrutiny should determine the question,
and that Fernando Pizarro should be set at liberty
on condition of his leaving the country, the Almagro
party declared that it was an unjust judgment, and
that Almagro should not submit to it. So furious were
the threats of Almagro's men, and so great was the

96 Stories of American History.

danger of Fernando, that Francisco Pizarro conceded
that Cuzco should remain in the hands of Almagro,
and Fernando was liberated. The Pizarros and
Almagro held an exchange of civilities, the agreement
was ratified, and Almagro was persuaded that a cordial
settlement had been made. But the marquis instantly
set about preparations for renewal of the war. He
notified Almagro that the treaty was at an end ; he
persuaded his brother Fernando to break his pledge
to leave the country, and gave him command of the
army. Fernando Pizarro marched to recover Cuzco.
He met the army of Almagro at a place called Salinas,
or salt pits, near the city. There was a fierce battle
in which Almagro was defeated, the city was taken,
and Almagro made prisoner. He was thrown into
prison, brought to trial, and put to death on the 8th of
July, 1538.

Francisco, the marquis, it is said by his friends, did
not know what was going on in Cuzco till all was
over ; and wept bitterly for the old friend who had
turned into a foe. Fernando soon afterward went
home to Spain ; and there, being called to account by
the relatives of Almagro, was imprisoned for twenty-
three years. He was at last released, and lived on his
own estate to be a hundred years old.

The Marquis Francisco Pizarro, was for the present

The Civil IVar in Perzi. 97

undisputed governor, for Almagro's son and other
friends were waiting for a judge from Spain, who they
expected would take vengeance for the marshal.
Pizarro sent his master of the horse, Pedro de Valdivia,
to subdue Chili ; and the names of a province, a river,
and a sea-port town still witness to the success of that
leader. Gonzalo Pizarro was sent to act against the
natives of Charcas, and there won an exceedingly rich
country, where the mines of Potosi were afterward
discovered. He was appointed Governor of Quito,
beyond which he was told there was a country full of
cinnamon trees. In search of this he set out with
three hundred Spaniards, and four thousand Indians.
They crossed the mountains through frightful snow
and ice, and at last arrived at a province called Sumaco,
where they did not find good trees, and where they
are said to have been very cruel to the Indians.
Pushing on eastward, they came to a perfect net-work
of rivers, with marshy country between them ; and
wonderful trees, creepers, and ferns through which
they had to cut their way. At last they stopped and
built themselves a barque, which carried the sick and
the baggage down the river Coca, while the rest went
along the bank, cutting their way with hatchets.
After two months, when they were almost starved,
they came to some Indians, whose language the

98 Stories of American History.

Peruvians understood enough to know that they said
that this river joined another very large one ten days
off, and that there would be plenty of food. Gonzalo
therefore resolved to send the barque down the river,
with a brave captain, Francisco de Orellana, and to
wait himself for its return.

In three days, going with the stream, Orellana came
to the junction of the Coca and the Napo, but he
found no food ; and as he declared he should be a year
forcing his way back up the rapid current, he persuaded
his men, not without difficulty, to abandon their com-
rades to their fate, and go on down the river till it
reached the sea. Only two men, a priest and a knight
named Sanchen de Vargas, were faithful enough to
refuse, and were left behind to perish in the forest.
Orellana safely reached the sea, having made his way
down the mighty flood called the Maranon, which has
taken the name of the Amazon, because he saw some
women with bows and arrows on the banks. It was
in 1541 that this traitor was the first to cross the conti-
nent. Gonzalo, after waiting long for him to come back,
followed the course of the Coca down to its junction
with the Napo. There they found young Vargas,
who told them the course Orellana had taken. The
party then turned back, and struggled through horrible
miseries to Peru again. The return march occupied

The Civil IVar in Peru. 99

more than a year. When, half naked, sick, and
starved, the survivors of the expedition, less than half,
reached Quito, it was to hear that Francisco Pizarro
had been murdered in his own house in Lima, by
conspirators, friends of Almagro, on the 26th of June,
1541, after defending himself bravely.

A judge named Vaca de Castro had arrived from
Spain just before the death of Pizarro, with a com-
mission to assist the marquis in tranquillizing the
country, and in the event of the death of Pizarro to
succeed him. He had not entered upon his duties, or
even reached Lima, when the assassination took place.
But he instantly assumed the direction of matters,
civil and military, conquered the adherents of the son
of Almagro, who had risen in arms, and executed that
young man with others, his associates. He was an
upright, honest man, and Gonzalo Pizarro consented
to lay aside all further thought of revenge or ambition,
and retired to the estate near Potosi which his brother
had assigned to him.

CHAP. XV.— PROTECTION FOR THE
INDIANS.

1542 — 1566.

fHE poor Peruvians, once so rich and happy, had
suffered grievously among all the wars of their
conquerors. The good Las Casas, the friend of the
Indians, went home to Spain to plead their cause with
the emperor ; and a set of rules were authorised for
their protection in all the Spanish colonies. These
were called the " New Laws." The repartimiento
of Indians was not to pass to a man's heirs at his
death, but it was to go to the king, which meant
release. No repartimiento was to be held by any
bishop, abbot, or officer of the crown ; all lands were
to be forfeited by those who had been concerned in
rebellion, and no personal slavery was to be exacted
from the Indians.

Good and humane governors were chosen to enforce
these laws in the isles, in Mexico, and in Peru. In

Protection for the Indians. 101

Hispaniola, however, there was hardly an Indian left
alive ; and Negro slavery was fast coming in, and it
was much the same in Cuba and Jamaica. On the
continent, the Spaniards thought the New Laws the
height of injustice ; and when the new governor
arrived in Mexico, they had nearly resolved to go
out and meet him in mourning. He found that if he
endeavoured to carry out the New Laws there would
certainly be a rebellion which he could not repress ;
and he sent letters back to represent the matter to the
Emperor.

In Peru, Vaca de Castro, whose wise measures are
related in the last chapter, was succeeded by Blasco
Nunez Vela. When the new viceroy arrived at Lima,
the first thing he saw was a placard : "Him who
comes to thrust out of my estate I shall thrust out of
the world." Vela was not terrified, but very angry,
and he was determined to carry out his orders. He
did hasty deeds, and made many enemies, who all
went over to join Gonzalo Pizarro, making him the
head of a rebellion against the New Laws and their
enforcement. Gonzalo procured the support of the
people as Captain-General of Peru ; and Blasco Nunez
was compelled either to surrender his authority or
to assert it by force of arms. He was hunted down,
defeated, and killed, an old personal enemy causing

102 Stories of American History.

his head to be struck off even while he was dying of
his wounds. Gonzalo Pizarro remained Governor of
Peru, hoping to be confirmed in his power by the
Emperor.

A lawyer priest named Pedro de la Gasca was
appointed to bring Peru into order. He bore a con-
ciliatory message from the emperor directing Pizarro
to co-operate with him in restoring order. Pizarro
refused to receive the imperial clemency, and raised
the standard of rebellion. The only way of reaching
Peru was, then, to cross the Isthmus and sail from
Panama ; and Gonzalo had plenty of time to prepare.
He had nine hundred Spaniards who were ready to
join with him in fighting for the Province. He
gained one great victory ; but after that he was de-
feated again and again, and forced to yield himself a
prisoner. He was tried, found guilty of treason, and
executed in the year 1548. Two of his brothers had
before died deaths of violence. The other of the four
was in prison in Spain. The great conquest had
brought little good to the conqueror and his family.
Bloodshed brought on bloodshed, and the death of
Atahualpa was visited on them.

Gasca had put down rebellion from Panama to Chili,
and had an enormous spoil in his hands, including the
newly discovered mines of Potosi — the richest silver

Protection for the Indians. 103

mines in the world. All the lands were to be redis-
tributed ; and his arrangements, which were meant to
be merciful and just, raised in some directions a spirit
of discontent and some disorder. But the mutinous
spirits were appeased or vanquished, and the authority
of the King of Spain was at last firmly established
about the time that Charles V. abdicated, and Philip
II. became King of Spain in 1555.

The Peruvians accepted the Christian faith, and the
church was endowed with great splendour. Indeed
the clergy deserved all praise for the steadfast efforts
they made for the protection of the Indian races ; and
it is owing to their constant witness against cruelty,
and appeals to the sovereign against the wickedness
of the colonists, that there is still a considerable native
population in Peru.

Las Casas was offered the bishopric of Cuzco, but
would not accept it. However, when he was offered
the bishopric of Chiapa, the chief of the Dominican
Order insisted on his taking it, since otherwise there
would be no one to see that the New Laws were
carried out, and the Indians saved from oppression.
Chiapa is that portion of Central America which lies
south of the peninsula of Yucatan, and it had been
settled by Spaniards who hated Las Casas beyond
all measure. There was hardly a white layman in

104 Stories of American History.

the New World who did not look on this good man
as his enemy, and think that the notion of saving
Indians from slavery was as absurd as declaring that
oxen and horses ought to be free. If he went out of
the capital, Ciudad Real, they closed the gates against
him ; they fought against him, abused him, tried to starve
him, and threatened him ; but all this was vain against
one who lived like the poorest of monks, and would
have been glad to die as a martyr. He held his
ground till he had set up various convents of Domini-
cans, who were sure to protect the Indians ; and he
only licensed as confessors men who would only give
absolution to those who abstained from wanton injus-
tice and cruelty to the natives. Even the wildest and
fiercest Spaniard thought with horror of going unab-
solved, and thus these confessors really were able to
prevent much cruelty.

There was to be a great Synod of the clergy at
Mexico, and thither Las Casas went to attend it. But
the news of his coming raised such a tumult among the
Spaniards, who hated him for hindering their cruelties,
and interfering with their gains, that the Government
bade him wait till men's minds were calmed down.
However he came safely in, and the Synod was held.
• There four great rules were laid down. First, that
heathen kings had as much right to their lands as

Protection for the Indians. 105

Christians ; second, that the Pope had given the New
World to the kings of Spain, not to make them richer,
but that the Faith might be spread ; third, that the
Indians were not to be despoiled of their lands or
riches ; fourth, that the kings of Spain were bound to
pay the expenses of missions to them. These were
excellent decisions, and Las Casas set out to carry
them to Spain. He never returned, finding he could
do more for the Indians, by pleading their cause with
the king, than by struggling with the colonists.

He did so with effect. Once, when Philip II.
needed money, he was told that if he would do away
with the claim of the Crown to all a man's Indians at
his death, each colonist would pay largely. But, on
the showing of Las Casas that this meant making them
slaves for ever, he refused. Tributes were laid upon
the Indians, and they underwent much harshness and
ferocious cruelty ; but the great Las Casas saved them
from absolute slavery. The bishops, priests, and
friars watched over them, and hindered the Spaniards
from the horrors they had practised in Hispaniola and
Cuba ; and thus the Indian race was saved from utter
extinction in Mexico and Peru, and became Christian.

Las Casas lived chiefly in a convent in Spain, always
watching to hinder any measure which would bear
hardly on the natives. He wrote a history of the

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Indians, and, when ninety years old, a treatise on
Peru. Two years later he came to Madrid to beg the
king to give the people in Guatemala a court of justice
of their own. The journey was too much for him, and
he died at ninety-two years of age at Madrid, in 1566,
leaving a noble name behind him.

CHAP. XVI.— ENGLISH NORTH AMERICAN
DISCOVERIES.

1524 — 1580.

LL the discoveries in the New World had
hitherto remained in the possession of Spain,
except Brazil. By the demarcation line of the Pope
that country belonged to Portugal, and was claimed
under the accidental discovery of Cabral, in 1500.
The boundaries of Brazil, as arranged by treaty be-
tween Portugal and Spain, were the Amazon on the
north, and the Rio de la Plata on the south. Subse-
quent treaties varied the boundaries, especially on the
west. As the valuable mines of Brazil were not dis-
covered until a century later, there was the less reason
for dispute. In 1580 Philip II. of Spain claimed the
crown of Portugal, and annexed that kingdom to
Spain.

In 1524 Francis I. of France, protesting that he
" did not think that God had created these new coun-
tries only for Spain," authorized an exploring expedition

io8 Stories of American History.

in behalf of French interests. The commander was
Giovanni Verazzani, a Florentine. He coasted the
northern continent from the tract now known as the
Carolinas up to Nova Scotia, and took possession of
it under the name of New France. The disturbed con-
dition of France prevented the immediate further
prosecution of discovery. Ten years later, Jacques
Cartier made his first voyage to the northern portion
of the continent. A second was made immediately
after his return, and a third in 1541. These voyages
accomplished little but geographical discovery.

In 1555 a party of French refugee Reformers
attempted a settlement in Rio Janeiro. The bad
character of their leader and dissensions among them-
selves brought the colony to the verge of ruin, and the
Portuguese completed its destruction. In 1562 the
distinguished French Huguenot, Coligny, obtained
from the French crown permission to plant a colony
of Huguenots in the New World. A first attempt
was made on the coast of Florida, near its northern
limit, and abandoned. A second was undertaken under
the same auspices, in 1564, but, in its tragical termina-
tion, furnishes one of the darkest passages in colonial
history. The site chosen was at the mouth of the St.
John's River. Though the promoters of the colony
professed religious motives, the colonists included

English North American Discoveries. 109

desperate men, who engaged in piracy against the
Spaniards. Jacques de Soria, a Huguenot pirate from
La Rochelle, captured a vessel with forty Jesuit priests,
who were on their way to act as missionaries to the
Indians, and murdered them all, peaceful men though
they were.

Spanish jealousy was aroused. An expedition
under Pedro Melendez de Aviles was fitted out for
the colonization of Florida. Melendez landed at St.
Augustine, so named by him, claimed the continent
for the crown of Spain, and laid the foundation of the
city in 1565. From St. Augustine, Melendez marched
through the forests to the French colony on the St.
John's. The garrison was surprised, and in the
massacre which followed nine hundred persons are
said to have been murdered, though Spanish accounts
give a less number. In 1567 Dominic de Gourges, a
native of Gascony, fitted out an expedition to avenge
the fall of the French colony. He surprised the
Spaniards who had erected forts on the site of the
Huguenot settlement, hanged his prisoners, and
departed. The French Government disowned the
expedition, and gave up all claim to Florida.

The English had, in the time of Henry VIII.,
sent out Sebastian Cabot, who had discovered New-
foundland. Their first notion was, that as Magellan

no Stories of American History.

had found a passage to India by the south-west,
and Vasco de Gama by the south-east, they would
try what could be done by the north. In the time
of Edward VI., in 1553, Sir Hugh Willoughby
had tried a passage to the north-east, but had been
overtaken by the winter, and was found frozen to
death, with all his crew, on the pitiless rocks of Russian
Lapland.

In this same year a company of merchant adven-
turers was formed in England, both for discovery and
for traffic. They fitted out various ships, and among
their most noted members were two Devonshire
brothers, William and John Hawkins, sons of a cap tain
who had once traded with Brazil. Their first voyages
were made for the purpose of catching Negroes on the
coast of Guinea, to sell to the Spaniards in Hispaniola.
Thus began that share in the slave trade which re-
mained the shame of England for two centuries, but
which was in those days thought no crime, as it was
held that wild savage natives might be brought into
bondage, if they were taught Christianity. Such
voyages opened to John Hawkins and his comrade,
Francis Drake, the way to what was then called the
Spanish Main. After having made four voyages as a
slave-trader, Drake resolved to make his fifth as a
plunderer.

English North American Discoveries, in

There was, indeed, no war between Queen Elizabeth
and Philip II., but they bitterly hated one another,
and the English had heard enough of Spanish cruelty
to think it a virtuous thing to hunt down a Spaniard.
The city of N ombre de Dios, on the Isthmus of
Panama, was the place where the silver and gold
collected from Mexico and Peru was received and em-
barked in heavy vessels, called galleons, to be taken to
Spain.

In 1572 Drake sailed with two ships, to try to
plunder these riches, hoping to surprise this place.
However, the Spaniards had been warned, and were
on the alert, and the English vessels were beaten off,
though not before they had secured a great deal of
booty. They entered the Gulf of Darien, taking several
treasure ships by the way. Here Francis Drake
landed, and climbed a high mountain whence he could
see the waters of the Pacific. He made a resolution
that on the western ocean he would sail an English
ship.

In 1576 Martin Frobisher tried to get into the
Pacific by the north-west. His ship, the Gabriel,
reached a long channel, which leads from Davis's Strait
to Hudson's Bay. He called it Frobisher's Strait,
which name it still bears. He thought it would
certainly lead to the great western sea ; but he lost

ii2 Stories of American History.

his boat and five men, who were taken by the Esqui-
maux, and was forced to come back. A bit of black
stone which had been picked up on the shore was sup-
posed to be full of gold ; and he made a second voyage
with three ships to penetrate the passage and bring
home more gold. Of course the passage to the Pacific,
through Hudson's Bay, was never found ; and though
plenty of stone was brought home, no gold was ever
got out of it, and Drake's way of getting the precious
metal by plunder was much preferred.

In 1577 Drake set forth with five ships and one
hundred and sixty-four men to make the circuit of the
earth. They preyed on all Spanish and Portuguese
ships as before, and thus obtained their stores. They
crossed toward Brazil, looked into the Rio de la Plata,
then coasted along Patagonia. There they came to a
gibbet where Magellan had hung some mutineers, and,
strangely enough, Drake had to use this very same
gibbet for the execution of a man named Doughty, who
had been stirring up the crews against him. After
much prayer for protection the ships safely passed the
Straits of Magellan ; but a storm afterwards blew them
so far south that the voyagers were the first European
navigators who beheld Cape Horn and the Antarctic
Ocean. One ship was lost, and the others were
separated. One went back to England, but Drake, in

English North American Discoveries. 113

the Golden Hind, went northward up the coast of
Chili and Peru. In Callao, the port of Lima, he
plundered seventeen vessels.

His notion was to try to enter the north-west
passage on the western side, and so come home ; but
he found it impossible, on account of sickness among
his crew, to get much farther north than California,
which he never guessed to be a gold country. And
then, striking across the Pacific, he touched at various
of the great groups of islands south of Asia, which
were mostly claimed by the Portuguese. Then he
crossed the Indian Ocean, rounded the Cape of Good
Hope, and came safely to England on the 26th of
September, 1580, having made one of the most won-
derful voyages ever accomplished. Queen Elizabeth
at first doubted whether she ought to reward a man
who had certainly been a pirate — doing much harm to
a king with whom she did not profess to be at war ;
but at last she decided that, as every one looked on the
Spaniards as fair game, she would go with the stream.
So she knighted Drake, dined on board the Golden
Hind, and had the vessel kept for a show ; while every
spirited young man longed to go and fight on the
Spanish Main, and the galleons sailed from the West
Indies in fear and trembling of the terrible English-
men.

^^?^7^Q^

CHAP XVII.— DISCOVERIES ON
THE EASTERN COAST.

1536—1634.

rE have seen how the Portuguese were gradu-
ally settling Brazil, and drifting into that
portion of South America which projects to the east-
ward of the longitudinal boundary line between the
grants of the Pope to Spain and to Portugal.

When Francisco de Orellana returned to Spain with
accounts of the great river of the Amazons, down
which he had sailed, he was sent out with four ships
and four hundred men to make a settlement and
subdue the country. He died on his passage out, and
no Spanish footing was made in the land of the
Amazons. There were no great kingdoms like
Mexico and Peru on the Atlantic coast of South
America, only wild Indian tribes with caciques living
in little villages. Gold and silver were much harder
to obtain, although the great river southward of Brazil

Discoveries on the Eastern Coast. 115

had been named by Sebastian Cabot, the Venetian, the
Rio de la Plata, or River of Silver, because of a little
he obtained from the natives.

In 1534 Don Pedro de Mendoza, in the service of
Spain, set forth to make a settlement on this river, and
to look for the silver. He began to build a city on a
site which he thought so healthy that he named it
" Nostra Senora de Buenos Ayres." But the air did
not agree with him ; his people could get neither silver
nor food ; and in searching vainly for a way of getting
across to Peru they came upon an enormous serpent,
forty-five feet long, and as thick as a man's body.
After four years of misery this settlement was given
up, and Mendoza died on his way home.

The city of Buenos Ayres was again occupied, and
again deserted. Each governor of the province of the
Rio de la Plata strove to find a passage to Peru. But
they only succeeded in partly establishing the Spanish
power in Paraguay, which settlement was declared to
be attached to the vice-royalty of Peru. They founded
a city called Asuncion, or Assumption, which is still
the capital of Paraguay. Another settlement, with a
bishopric, was founded at Tucuman. In this manner,
founding settlements and defining their jurisdiction,
the Spaniards had traced out nearly all the western
coast of South America, claiming the possession.

u6 Stories of American History.

They had small settlements here and there, wherever
there was gold, or silver, or spice to tempt them.
Conquest spread southward from Peru, and the city of
Valparaiso, or the Vale of Paradise, was founded as the
capital of Chili.

That long peninsula which hangs down from the
eastern coast of the northern continent, and shuts in
the Gulf of Mexico, had first been seen, as long ago
as 1512, by Juan Ponce de Leon. This gentleman
fancied that in the West Indian Islands there was a
fountain, the water of which would make people young
again. In sailing in quest of it he came upon this
peninsula, which he took for another island. He saw
it first on Palm Sunday, which the Spaniards call
Pascua Florida, and thus it took the name of Florida.
Afterwards parties of Spaniards went slave-catching
there, since it was understood that all Caribs or
cannibals might be enslaved ; and it was easy to say
that all natives they wanted to seize were such.
But Florida slaves were sure either to starve them-
selves to death, or to die of home-sickness. Several
attempts were made at forming a colony in Florida,
but sickness or war generally destroyed all the settlers.
One man, named Cubeca de Vaca, who was made
prisoner, became a sort of god to the Floridians, who
thought him a child of the sun, worshipped him, and

Discoveries on the Eastern Coast. 117

carried him about on their shoulders, in awe and
trembling, till he made his escape into Mexico. He
tried to teach them the true faith, but did not under-
stand enough of their language. However, at last a
settlement was made in Florida, but the Spaniards
never spread any farther to the northward, partly
because it was too cold for them, and partly because
there was no promise of gold.

The settlers on the Rio de la Plata and in Para-
guay had a different character of natives to deal with.
The Araucaninian Indians were desperate warriors, and
had a cacique, Carpolican, who made a resistance so
brave that a poem was written on him. Nor have
these Indians ever been entirely subdued ; they remain
still free, under their own government.

The Bishop of Tucuman invited the Jesuit priests
to assist in the conversion of Paraguay. This order
was at that time composed of the most ardent of mis-
sionaries among the Europeans, and eight of the
Fathers came out, mostly Spaniards and Italians, but
one Scotch by birth. They had learned something by
the failure of some missionaries, and by the success of
Las Casas and the Dominicans with certain wild
tribes in Mexico, in making the Land of War the Land
of Peace. The plan of the Jesuits was to go about in
pairs, after having learned the Indian language, and

n8 Stories of American History.

make little settlements with churches and schools, a
dwelling for the cacique close to the priest, and cot-
tages and gardens for the Indians, who were to be
trained in cultivating their land, and in all good
Christian knowledge. If Spaniards came amongst
them they were to be civilly treated, but sent away
after a day or two, and no one was to be allowed to
strike an Indian. Their watchword was to be : " Love
one another, even as Christ hath loved you."

They wonderfully fulfilled it. Whatever were the
errors of the Jesuits at home, their work among the
Indians of Paraguay was carried out in the spirit of
peace and love. Many villages sprang up, which made
a perfect garden of the country round the Rivers
Paraguay and Uruguay. The whole community
assembled for mass in the church in the morning,
then the youths were taken out to work in the common
fields, and the children sent to school. The men
worked in their gardens at home, but there was a
public store of crops from the common land, whence
the sick and the widows were maintained. The Jesuit
Father of the village took all care and thought on him-
self, and the gentle, docile people lived happily under
him, almost without a vice, in simple obedience. The
only fault in the system seems to have been that it did
not train the Indians to think or act for themselves,

Discoveries on the Eastern Coast. 119

but kept them as children all their lives, generation
after generation dependent on a foreign order of
priests. Yet perhaps this was because few Indians
were capable of being highly trained, there being, for
the most part, a want of substance in their character.
The Jesuits were highly educated men, and made
many discoveries in the new country, which was most
fertile in their hands. Maize or Indian corn, potatoes,
cotton, and tobacco were already cultivated and used
in America. Turkeys (called, in French, dinde),
were first found in Mexico ; and several important
plants, for use or medicine, were now made available,
in especial caoutchouc, or Indian rubber, and chin-
chona, or quinine — the great remedy for ague or marsh
fever. This last was long known as Jesuit's bark.

CHAP. XVIIL— ENGLISH SAILORS ON
THE SPANISH MAIN.

1584—1596.

rHILE Francis Drake was on his voyage round
the world, another Devonshire man, Sir
Humphrey Gilbert, proposed to found a settlement
in Newfoundland, whence the Spaniards might be
more effectually harassed. He made the attempt
twice, but, though he was allowed to read out to an
assemblage of tradesmen and fishermen the royal
commission giving him possession of the territory,
both times failed. Newfoundland was not fit for a
set of men entirely inexperienced in guarding against
the cold and hunger of that barren, fog-bound coast
and terrible climate, and Gilbert was forced to sail
on his return, in 1584, with only two ships. A
storm overtook them, and the last the other ship heard
of him was his voice shouting through the tempest :
" Do not fear, God is as near by water as by land."
The scheme was taken up by his half-brother,

English Sailors on the Spanish Main. i 2 1

Walter Raleigh, who thought that it was useless to
settle in the cold north, but that it would repay the
colonists to make a home on that temperate coast
which the French had surveyed. In 1584, then, he
sent out a party to the land bordering on Carolina — a
tract which still preserves the name which originated
with the Huguenots. Raleigh named his grant
Virginia, in honour of the virgin Queen, Elizabeth.
Sir Richard Grenville took out one hundred and eight
settlers, whom he landed on the Island of Roanoke, on
the coast of Carolina, leaving Sir Ralph Lane as their
governor. They mapped out a city which was to be
called Raleigh, and built a fort and some dwellings.
But, instead of saving grain, and planting fields, these
foolish settlers roamed about in search of mines, and
quarrelled with the Indians. In consequence, when,
a year later, Sir Francis Drake touched there to see
how they were getting on, he found them nearly
starved, and harassed on all sides by the Indians, and,
to save their lives, they could only be carried home.
A few days after their departure a ship despatched by
Raleigh with provisions arrived, but had only to take
the cargo back to England. And yet a few days later
Sir Richard Grenville came with three ships, and, finding
the island deserted, left fifteen men to garrison the fort,
and sailed away. Lane had found the Indians in the

122 Stories of American History.

habit of rolling up certain leaves and smoking them.
He brought some home and gave them to Raleigh,
and this was the first introduction of tobacco into
England. The root called by the Indians batah was
also brought home, and first grown on Raleigh's
estate in Ireland, under the name of potato, and thus
first made known in Europe.

In that same year, 1586, Raleigh sent out another
party, who had to fight their way with the Indians
before they could land. The new-comers found the
fort on Roanoke in ruins, and nothing of the garrison
of fifteen men but their bones. Nevertheless there
were some friendly Indians, one of whom was chris-
tened and honoured with the title of Lord of Roanoke.
The governor of this new colony was named John
White. With him came out his daughter and her
husband, a gentleman named Dare. In about a
month after the arrival at Roanoke Mrs. Dare bore a
daughter, who was christened Virginia. Virginia was
the first white child born in North America; but her
fate is unknown, for while her grandfather went home
to England for supplies, the whole colony vanished.
They were probably taken captive by the Indians, for
none of them were ever seen again. The Island of
Roanoke is now almost uninhabited, but the traces of
the fort may still be found.

English Sailors on the Spanish Main. 123

By this time there was open war between England
and Spain, and the bold English sailors went as the
Queen's officers instead of as adventurers. Moreover,
the whole of South America was claimed by Spain, for
the direct line of kings of Portugal had failed, and
Philip II. of Spain had claimed the kingdom and all
its colonies, in right of his mother, a Portuguese
princess. Brazil was therefore in his hands, and his
strength and dominion seemed immense, but the
English seamen knew better, and said he was only a
Colossus stuffed with clouts.

In 1586 Sir Francis Drake and Martin Frobisher,
with twenty-five ships, and two thousand three
hundred men, set sail for the West Indies. They
touched at Dominica, where the natives were as yet
undisturbed, and at St. Christopher's, which was
uninhabited ; and then they fell on Hispaniola,
the oldest settlement of all, and full of riches.
They seized the gates of San Domingo, got into the
citadel, and called on the Spaniards to ransom their
city, declaring that they would every day hang several
prisoners, and burn a part of the city, till the governor
came to terms. At last ,£7,000 was paid them, large
stores of provisions were furnished, and they sailed
away, having held the place thirty days. They had
been amused by finding on the wall of the palace a

i24 Stories of American History.

painting of a horse leaping off the globe, with the
inscription " The world is not enough."

Next, in like manner, they fell upon Carthagena,
on the mainland, and after hard fighting gained the
harbour ; and did what they called " scorching," as at
San Domingo, every day, till they obtained a still
larger ransom. But there was a bad fever among
them, and their wounded died of lock-jaw, so they
sailed north, into a more temperate climate, to see
after the Virginian settlement, taking the ships of the
Spaniards by the way, and harrying their towns in
Florida. They found the party at Roanoke in a sad
state — as has previously been mentioned — by their own
fault.

Plunder of the galleons as they came to Spain, and
of the Spanish settlements on the coast, was thought
the most honourable mode of serving the Queen and
making one's own fortune ; and, of course, the Spaniards
thought of the English pretty much as the old Saxons
thought of the Danish sea-kings, as mere sea-robbers.
On each side there were grievous cruelties, for Roman
Catholics thought the English heretics, and worthy to
be hanged or burnt, and the English were full of
bitter, savage revenge.

When in 1580 the King- of Spain claimed the crown
of Portugal and its colonies, there was some resistance,

English Sailors on the Spanish Main. 125

but eventually, for sixty years, all the Christian portion
of South America acknowledged fealty to the crown
of Spain. But the colonies received little protection
from that Government, while they were invaded and
attacked by its enemies. The Portuguese were even
raided by their Spanish neighbours, to reduce them to
a submission for which they could hardly understand
the reason. The Indians in Brazil were faithful allies
of the Portuguese settlers; and in 1594, a party of
Indians armed only with arrows, and led by a Jesuit
Father, repelled the landing of a Spanish privateering
expedition. In 1592, they cut off a plundering party
of twenty-five men, sent inland by an English adven-
turer, Thomas Cavendish. Four years later, Sir James
Lancaster, in command of a squadron fitted out by the
London merchants, took numerous prizes on the coast
of Brazil. France was at this time also at war with
Spain, and engaged in raiding upon the Portuguese as
Spanish colonies..

Sir James Lancaster, joined by five French pri-
vateers, descended upon Recife, now called Pernam-
buco. He took possession of the fort, and seized all
the treasure in the place. The Portuguese colonists
made great rafts, set them on fire, and sent them
down one of the rivers at the mouth of which Per-
nambuco stands, in hopes of destroying the English ,

j

i26 Stories of American History.

fleet. But Lancaster's brave men, with their weapons

and all about them wrapped in wet clothes, grappled

the rafts and sent them safely out to sea. At last

the eleven vessels left Pernambuco, loaded with spoil

of treasure, timber, spices, and the like, which was

fairly shared among them. The squadron returned

home without disaster, Lancaster giving thanks as

having done a good work under Heaven's blessing.

Sir John Hawkins and Sir Francis Drake had also

gone on a plundering expedition to the islands, with

twenty-seven ships, though Hawkins was then seventy

years old. They did much harm to the Spaniards,

but without gaining much themselves, and the two

leaders grew angry and quarrelled. After some hot

words with Drake, Hawkins fell ill and died at sea,

near the island of Porto Rico, in November, 1595.

Drake attacked the place, was repulsed, sailed away ;

and, after plundering several settlements, went to

Nombre de Dios, on the Isthmus of Darien, whence

the fleet was driven away by the breaking out of a

deadly disease. Drake was among the victims, and

died just as his fleet anchored at Porto Bello, on the

coast of New Granada, December 27, 1595. His

death is said to have been caused as much by grief

and disappointment as by disease.

CHAP. XIX.— THE FIRST NORTHERN
COLONIES.

1604 — 1618.

> FTER the deaths of Drake and Hawkins there
were no more great plundering expeditions.
The minds of the Europeans were, however, still
possessed with the notion of a great golden city, which
they called El Dorado, somewhere in the interior of
South America, to be reached from the River Orinoco.
Troughs and boxes were thought to be made of gold
there, and the people were said to powder themselves
with gold dust. Most likely these notions grew from the
reports which the natives of the eastern coast made of
the wealth of Peru. Sir Walter Raleigh believed in
them, and in 1595 made an attempt to find his way to El
Dorado, taking the island of Trinidad, at the mouth of
the Orinoco, and making its governor prisoner. He
forced his way up the river as far as he could in boats,
making friends with the Indians, but finding nothing

128 Stories of American History.

but dense forests full of wonderful plants and birds,
and picking up specimens of ore. He had seen no
golden city, but he still believed that through Guiana
was the way to overflowing wealth.

Elizabeth died in 1603, and James I., who succeeded
her, made peace with the Spaniards, and discontinued
all attacks on them. English sailors did not, however,
leave off their robberies of Spanish ships and settle-
ments, and there were men from other nations who
joined them. The French Huguenots had, for many
years past, a piratical fleet at sea, and now that Henry
IV. had won his crown, he wished much to favour
seamanship, and there were numerous privateers sail-
ing under the French flag. The Dutch who had
revolted from Philip II. of Spain, and furnished some
of the best seamen in Europe, were resolved on
wresting from Spain some of her western riches.
The Spaniards called all these enemies Boucanieros,
from bouc, beef cut in strips, and smoked, which was
their usual food when they camped on shore. As
these buccaneers soon came to consist of the worst,
fiercest, and most cruel men of all nations, they were
a horrible scourge to the whole Spanish Main. They
had stations for their ships at the Keys, or little unin-
habited islands in the West Indies, where they kept
their treasures, and whence they went out to seize

The First Northern Colonies. 129

merchant ships, or burn villages on the land. The
crews of their prizes were slain, or driven overboard,
and such vessels as were not needed were sunk.

However, James I. was permitting more peaceful
and reputable settlements. A new London company
and a Plymouth company wished to make another
attempt at North America, and he gave them a charter,
allowing them to make laws, and appoint officers.
There were to be two settlements — the London
company had Maine, the Plymouth company Virginia ;
and a space of a hundred miles was to be kept clear
between them to prevent quarrelling. The first colo-
nists in Maine soon abandoned the settlement, and did
little more than give the name which the district has
retained. The Virginian colony fared better ; and, after
a period of suffering and dissension, was established
securely under Sir Thomas Dale, who assumed the
government in 1611. The laws were very severe,
being, in fact, a code of martial law; but so many
attempts at settlement had failed from unruliness and
improvidence, that perhaps severity was necessary.
So a man was liable to death if he killed any cattle,
even his own, without leave from the governor; a
baker who cheated had his ears cut off; a laundress
who stole linen was flogged. The chief settlement of
Virginia was Jamestown ; not much of a town, for

130 Stories of American History.

the houses were of rough timber, with seats of
trunks of trees, and the church was an awning
stretched between the trees, with a bar of wood nailed
between two trees for a pulpit. The settlers cleared
away the trees, grew maize for themselves and
tobacco to send to England, and were called planters.

The famous Captain John Smith was one of the
settlers in Virginia. His was a life of adventure, by
land and sea. He had served as a soldier of fortune
in different lands ; and as a maritime discoverer had
traced the coast of North America up to Maine, and
gave the country the name of New England. His
services were invaluable to the colony of Virginia, and
he was sent on expeditions for forage and discovery
among the Indians. On one of these expeditions he
was made prisoner by the Indian chief, Powhatan.
He was tied to a tree, and was about to be made a
mark for the Indian tomahawks, or hatchets, when the
chiefs young daughter, Pocahontas, threw herself
between Smith and the tomahawk, and begged for his
life. He was spared, and on his return to the colony,
the Indians made friends with the planters, and brought
them skins and maize in exchange for red cloths and
other articles. Among the bearers of these native
commodities Pocahontas frequently came with her
basket. These visits resulted in her baptism and

The First Northern Colonies. 131

marriage to a man named John Rolfe, who took her to
England. There the red-skinned woman is said to
have carried herself like a princess. After being the
fashion for a time, it is also said that she met with
many troubles, fell into great poverty, and died at the
early age of twenty-one. She bore to her husband
one son, who returned to Virginia, where proud fami-
lies trace their descent from the Indian princess.

The English claimed the Caribee, or Cannibal Isles,
which the slave-hunting Spaniards had nearly emptied
of people ; and in 1608 the Earl of Carlisle obtained
from James I. a grant of the Island of Barbadoes. It
had been discovered by the Portuguese, and was called
the island of the Barbadoes, or bearded natives, but
these had all perished. Barbadoes was the first English
West Indian settlement.

In 1617 Sir Walter Raleigh, then a prisoner in the
Tower, persuaded James I. to let him sail to Guiana,
the second time, to find his way to the Golden City, or
at least a gold mine. He had twelve ships, and his
hopes were high. He was welcomed by the Indians,
whom he had made friends with before, but he was an
old and broken man. His health was not equal to the
toil of exploring these unwholesome rivers, and he had
to send a party forward with his son. However, the
Spaniards had formed settlements on the way to the

132 Stories of American History.

|

supposed gold mines. There was peace between
England and Spain, but Raleigh had grown up when
peace at home meant warfare on the Spanish Main.
The Spanish town of St. Thomas, on the River Orinoco,
was attacked and won ; but Raleigh's son was killed,
and the party had soon to return to England. James
I., angered at the attack on the Spaniards, executed
Raleigh ; not for that, but on the former charge of
treason, under which he was in prison when released
to make this unfortunate expedition. So died the last
of Queen Elizabeth's great seamen and foes to the
Spaniard.

The great French king, Henry IV., was bent on
forming colonies in that further north which Cartier
had surveyed. It is said that the Spaniards had looked
at the place, saw no gold there, and said, " aca nada " —
"here is nothing" — whence it was called Canada. But
as Canada is an Indian word for a great plain, this is
more likely to be the meaning of the name ; and the
French called it Acadie.

Under a leader, whose name still appertains to Lake
Champlain, the country was explored, and found to be
very fertile, though the winters were far colder than
in the same latitudes in Europe. Large numbers of
French came out, and settled on both banks of the
River St. Lawrence. The city of Quebec was founded

The First Northern Colonies. 133

in 1608, and the French settlers were content to live
as farmers, not seeking mines, but becoming very pros-
perous. They behaved better to the Indians than did
either the Spaniards or the English. The clergy who
came out with them made many converts, since the
Red Indians had little actual misbelief, and were ready
to hear more about the " Great Spirit " from the
" Black Robes," as they called the French priests and
friars.

The Dutch were making their attempts likewise.
In 1609 they hired a gallant English sailor, named
Henry Hudson, who had already made two voyages to
try to find the north-west passage. He tried again,
and went surveying and touching here and there, from
Greenland to Virginia. Thence, turning northward,
he put in at the mouth of that beautiful wide river
which still bears his name, and was delighted, as well
he might be, with its lovely shores, and the friendly
Indians, who came in bark canoes, and exchanged
grapes, pumpkins and furs for knives and beads.
When the river became too shallow for his ship he
sent a boat on a little further, and then turned back,
having named Staten Island after the States of Hol-
land. His next voyage was again in search of the
north-west passage. He entered that great watery
opening now called Hudson's Bay, but his men,

134 Stories of American History.

frightened and angry, rose against him, put him in a
boat, tied hand and foot, with his son and one or two
more, and left him to perish in the ice.

After this another Dutch expedition, under Adrian
Blok, or Block, in 1614, explored both the Hudson
and the Connecticut Rivers. He passed through
Long Island Sound, and gave the name to Block
Island. He lost his ships, and spent the winter on
Manhattan Island, where the city of New York now
stands. There he built a vessel, which he named
the Unrest. Manhattan Island was bought of the
Indians by the Dutch for beads worth ^24, and a set-
tlement was begun called New Amsterdam. Tracts
were taken up in the interior by men called Patroons,
or patrons, a title conveying baronial dignity. They
came out each with fifty colonists, with leave to buy
sixteen miles of land from the Indians, and to import
Negroes from Guinea to work for them. Slaves had
also begun to be used in Virginia to attend to the
tobacco plantations, which the colonists would keep to
a great extent ; though wise men warned them that
they would wear out the soil.

The Dutch cared more for the East than the West
Indies. It was in trying to find the south-western
passage without passing through the Magellan Straits,
that, in 1615, Captain Schouten, of the Dutch city of

The First Northern Colonies. 135

Hoorn, passed outside of the island group of Tierra
del Fuego, and named another Staten Island. The
Hoorn was wrecked, but she left her name to the
! southernmost point of the southernmost island. Her
captain was considered a buccaneer, because he had
disobeyed the Dutch East India Company, and his
remaining ship was taken from him and forfeited when
he arrived at the Dutch settlements in India. Five
nations now had settlements in America — Spain, Por-
tugal, England, France, and Holland.

CHAP. XX.— THE PILGRIM FATHERS.

l62O 1637.

ING JAMES I. was resolved that in England
strong Church principles should be carried out,
and that religious services should closely keep to the
Prayer Book, and that every one should attend them.
There were fines and punishments for those who
refused. Now ever since the Reformation there had
been persons who wanted to do away with all forms
that they fancied were like those of the Roman Catho-
lics ; and rather than conform to the Prayer Book rules
they fled to Holland. When these fugitives numbered
about one thousand they resolved, instead of living as
exiles among foreigners, to go out to the New World,
and make a home there. They sent to the king to
beg for a charter by which to govern themselves, and
for a grant of land. James would not give them a
charter, but he said they might have the land if they
behaved well and molested no one else.

So in 1620 one hundred and twenty were told off to

The Pilgrim Fathers. 137

go and prepare the way. They sailed from Delft in
two ships, the Mayflower and the Speedwell, touching
at the old English Plymouth ; but the last-named
vessel proved unseaworthy, and only the Mayflower
made the voyage with about one hundred passengers,
among whom Miles Standish was the most noted. They
meant to have gone to the beautiful Hudson River,
but missing that, they came to a harbour which they
named Plymouth, after the port they had last left.
The day of their landing was the 22nd of December,
and a young girl, named Mary Chilton, was the first
to step on the new land. Then they built one great
log-house, where all might sleep, and divided it in
partitions for the nineteen families. A shed was built
for a store-house, and another house for the sick.
They built a fort with a flat roof and battlements, on
which four cannon were mounted. It served also for
a " meeting-house," and was fitted accordingly for
religious worship. William Brewster was their Elder ;
and as no clergyman came out with the first colonists
for several years, he consented to preach, but never
administered the sacraments. They sowed corn, but
till it grew they had to live by hunting and fishing,
obtaining deer, turkey, eels, lobsters, and shell fish ; and
often they suffered grievously from hunger, for cattle and
farm stock were not imported into the colony till four

138 Stories of American History.

years later. Half of the colony died during the j
winter. The graves were levelled with the ground, and |
in the spring sown with quick-growing grass, lest the j
Indians should see how many were lost. The Mayflower \
returned the next year, bringing supplies and more
settlers, and they began to get their heads above water.
Scattered settlements were made at different points
in the district bearing the Indian name of Massa-
chusetts, or " Blue Hills." Among the most important
of these was the settlement at Naumkeag, made by
Captain John Endicot in 1628. He acted in the
interest of certain gentlemen in England, who were
organizing a company. Prior settlers objected at first
to the assumption of government by Endicot, but the
reconciliation of the difficulty, which was <c quietly
composed," induced these Bible-studying Puritans to
call their settlement Salem, the " city of peace." In
1629 a charter was granted by Charles I. to " The
Governor and Company of the Massachusetts Bay in
New England." In June of that year the Mayflower
was again on the coast with four vessels more, bring-
ing to Salem colonists sent out by " The Governor
and Company." Seventeen vessels sent out by this
company landed fifteen hundred persons in the colony.
They sailed at different times, and all arrived safely
at Salem and Charlestown in the year 1630.

The Pilgrim Fathers. 139

Boston, so named from Boston in Lincolnshire,
became the capital. These colonists were Puritans
like those at Plymouth, but they came direct from
England and not from Holland. Their governor was
John Winthrop, and very strict and stern were the
laws, both in Plymouth and Massachusetts. The
strictest possible rules were applied, and every effort
was made to enforce them. Tradition exaggerates the
severity of these rules, but the following are specimens.
People who stayed away from public worship were
fined, and if they remained away for a month together
were put in the stocks, or in a wooden cage. Light,
foolish conduct was punished by the sentence to stand
upon a stool in " meeting " with a label pinned about
the neck. A scolding woman's tongue was fixed in a
cleft stick, or else she was ducked. Worse crimes
were met by whipping or the pillory, and many by
death. It was needful, above all, to be watchful and
vigilant, for the Indians could not but look with dread
and suspicion on the white men who came to spoil
their hunting grounds. They were ready to fall on
the intruders on any provocation.

The settlement in Virginia felt this when their
friend Powhatan died in 1618. All through his time
the Indians had come and gone freely among the
colonists, selling and buying, and the English clergy-

140 Stories of American History.

men who had come out had many plans for teaching
and converting the Indian children. But in 1622 a
planter quarrelled with a chief and was killed. His
servants avenged his death by killing the Indian, and
the tribe resolved on vengeance. The whole of the
colonists, between two and three thousand in number,
were to have been slain by the Indians in one night;
but happily one man who had been converted gave
warning, and there was time to arm and prepare. As
many as two hundred and fifty English were killed,
but the others were saved, though for a long time they
had to keep a most anxious watch, and the outlying
farms had to be given up. In 1625, just before his
death, King James called in the charter, and took
Virginia under his own government. The settle-
ments were spreading very fast. King Charles made
many grants to persons as governors. Lord Balti-
more was one of these. He settled the country
on the Chesapeake Bay, north-east of Virginia, and
named it Maryland, after Queen Henrietta Maria, who
was usually called Mary in England. He was a
Roman Catholic, and seems to have intended Mary-
land for a refuge for English Roman Catholics, as
Plymouth and Massachusetts Bay were for Puritans.
But toleration and equality were secured in Maryland
for all Christians. Maine was granted to Sir

The Pilgrim Fathers. 141

Ferdinand Gorges, and is said to have been named
after the Queen's French Duchy. A small Swedish
settlement was begun on the Delaware.

There came to Massachusetts in 1631 a young
Welsh dissenting minister, named Roger Williams.
He thought the strict laws regulating doctrine and
worship too narrow, and that law should only deal
with crimes, not with opinion. These views were
deemed very dangerous, and Williams was several
times cited to appear before the magistrates ; and at
last the General Court or Legislature of the colony of
Massachusetts pronounced against him the sentence of
exile for teaching doctrines which tended " to subvert
the fundamental state and government." It was
resolved to send him to England in a ship then just
ready to sail. But he made his escape, and in January,
1636, fled on foot from his house in Salem, and for
fourteen weeks wandered in the forests before he
reached the Plymouth colony. There he got together
a few friends, and was about to make a settlement.
But Governor Winthrop of Massachusetts, who
thought him ill-treated, sent him help, and wrote to
him, advising him to make a new home on Narra-
gansett Bay outside the claims of other colonies. He
embarked with five companions in a canoe in June,
1636, dropped down the Blackstone River, and landed

142 Stories of American History.

at the head of Narragansett Bay, where he founded the
city called Providence. He obtained from Canonicus
and Miantonomoh, Narragansett chiefs, a large grant
of land, with the islands in the bay, the largest of
which he called Rhode Island, and named his settle-
ment Rhode Island and Providence Plantation. He
made his colony a refuge for all those whose opinions
had caused them to be exiled. It used to be said that
whoever had lost his religion would find it in some
village in Rhode Island. He was a generous man,
and when he found that a warlike tribe of Indians,
called Pequods, were trying to persuade his friends,
the Narragansetts, to unite with them in falling upon
the Massachusetts settlers, he went to the chiefs at the
peril of his life, and persuaded them to let the Pequods
stand alone. Both Narragansetts and Mohicans, the
two chief Indian tribes, became allies of England, but
the Pequods remained at enmity, burning homesteads
and torturing travellers. The settlement of Con-
necticut had been commenced, and the men of that
colony, in 1637, united with Massachusetts, made war
upon the Pequods, burned their fort in a night attack
with six hundred people in it. The whole tribe were
hunted down like wild beasts till most were slain —
women, children, and all. Their country was laid
waste, and the few survivors were made slaves.

CHAP. XXL— MISSIONARIES IN NORTH
AMERICA.

1626 — 1655.

tHERE was some endeavour at converting the
Indians. It had begun in Acadie, the French
settlement. In 1626 three Jesuit Fathers went to
Quebec, intending to carry the faith to the Huron
Indians. There was, however, war between England
and France, and therefore between their colonies.
Only two years after the Jesuits had come out, Quebec
was taken by the English, under Sir David Kirk, and
the French Governor- General, Champlain, and all the
French inhabitants, were sent home.

After peace was made in 1632, Quebec was restored
to the French, and two priests, called Le Jeune and
La Moue, came back, and going to a hovel in the
woods, set themselves to learn the language of the
Algonquin Indians. The cold in the winter was
frightful, the rivers were frozen over, and water froze
at night close before the fire. These patient priests

144 Stories of American History.

not only endured all this, but went about in Indian
camps, amid all the filth, the noise, the smoke, the dogs,
and the savagery, learning the Indians' ways of think-
ing and trying to win them over to listen to Christian
teaching.

Five more clergy then came out, and three of them,
of whom Jean de Brebeuf was the chief, went out on
a mission to the Hurons, who had come in their canoes
to confer with Champlain, at Quebec. The French
governor committed the Fathers to the chief, and bade
him take care of them. At first they found that the
Indians resorted to them only as healers of the sick and
owners of strange and wonderful things, such as a
watch and a compass ; but gradually the nobler spirits
were gained one by one, and large numbers came in
after them. The Jesuits did not attempt too much
civilization, or try to make these wild men live like
Europeans; but they only received such converts as
would give up scalp -hunting, murder, and cannibalism,
and would content themselves with only one wife.
No one who had not some real knowledge of the faith,
except little children, was baptised. One favourite re-
sort for baptism was the lovely little lake called by the
Indians Horicon, by the missionaries St. Sacrament,
and now known as Lake George.
. Father Brebeuf translated into the Huron language

JESUIT MISSIONARIES AT WORK.

Missionaries in North America. 145

a catechism for the converts. About this time arose a
Protestant Missionary, John Eliot, who came out from
England in 1631, and became minister of the church
in Roxbury, near Boston, in the following year. About
thirty years old at the time of his arrival, he lived to
fourscore and seven. Very soon after his settlement
in Roxbury, he conceived a strong passion for Chris-
tianizing the Indians. The venerable Dr. Cotton
Mather, his junior and survivor, says of him : " The
remarkable zeal of the Romish missionaries, compass-
ing sea and land that they might make proselytes,
made his devout soul think of it with a further disdain
that we should come any whit behind in our care to
evangelize the Indians." The Pequod war, or mas-
sacre (1637), in which " a nation disappeared from the
family of man," strengthened his purpose and quickened
his zeal. Nearly fifty years of his life was given to
this good work. In New England he is spoken of to
this day as the " Apostle to the Indians." Edward
Everett, the New England scholar, statesman, and
orator thus speaks of him: " The Apostle — and truly I
know not who, since Peter and Paul, better deserves
that name."

Father Brebeuf, as noted above, translated a cate-
chism for his converts. The Apostle Eliot translated,
first, the Ten Commandments, and a selection of texts;

146 Stories of American History.

next, the New Testament, published in 1661; then, in
1663, a grammar of the language of the Massachusetts
Indians, and a translation of the whole Bible. The
Indian title of the book may serve for an exercise in
pronunciation. It is " Mamusse Wunneetupamatamwe
Up-Biblum God Naneeswe Nuk kone Testament kah
wonk Wusku Testament." A new edition was pub-
lished in Boston in 1822, with notes and an introduc-
tion by two eminent American experts in the Indian
languages, Du Ponceau and Dr. J. Pickering. Eliot's
Bible was originally published at Cambridge, Massa-
chusetts. He translated also Baxter's "Serious Call,"
and several other devotional works, and a catechism ;
and he made an Indian metrical version of the Psalms.
Most curious of all, he wrote " The Logic Primer for
the use of Indians." The use of this is, however,
apparent when we read that to H award College, in
Cambridge, founded in 1636, there was annexed a
building sufficient to accommodate twenty Indian
students. Several schools were established at different
points, and the Indian college was designed for the
education of Indian preachers. There were at one
time four and twenty Indian ministers of the gospel,
besides several white missionaries in Massachusetts,
who preached in the Indian tongue.

Eliot fully believed that the devil was the Red man's

Missionaries in North America. 147

master, and the " Great Spirit " that they worshipped.
To prepare himself for their conversion, he spent
nearly fourteen years before he ventured in 1646 to
preach to the Narragansetts the first sermon to them
in their own tongue. The number of towns of " pray-
ing Indians" grew up, by the year 1674, to fourteen,
and over these Eliot seems to have presided, in a way,
as bishop, without the title. The principal Indian
town was Natick, on the Charles River, which Eliot
tried to rule by a constitution as like that of the
Israelites under Moses as he could make it, and where
he was gradually taming and civilizing the natives,
and making them good men. He received some
small aid from England, had influential supporters in
the colony, and the sympathy of the best of the settlers
was with him. But the Indian chiefs, with few excep-
tions, and their " medicine men " or priests, were his
determined enemies, and only their fear of the English
preserved his life. As to the converts themselves,
they were under a ban. The Indians drove out from
their society all who favoured Christianity, and put
them to death when it could be done secretly or safely.
But for the dread of their protectors, the English,
all the converts would have been murdered. The
colonists could not but live in dread of such trouble-
some neighbours, and if to some of them a "praying

148 Stories of American History.

Indian" was only an Indian after all, it is not to be
wondered at. What farther became of the Apostle
Eliot's efforts will be noted in a future chapter. We
have anticipated events somewhat, in order to give a
concise view of his labours and his character. And it
may be proper here to remark that English-speaking
people have not relaxed their efforts — subject of course
to unhappy interruptions — to Christianize the Indians.
Christians of all names are at work among those who
remain, both in the British dominion and in the United
States. As we have spoken of translations, it is due
to the Chief Brant of the Mohawks, who figured in the
last century, to say that he translated the Book of
Common Prayer and St. Mark's Gospel into his native
language. The mission and Bible presses of to-day
issue Bibles and religious publications in the Indian
languages, and there is at least one missionary paper
published in English and Indian at one of the western
missionary stations.

Alas, Dutch emulation of the Jesuits took a different
form from that of the Apostle Eliot. Under Philip II.
of Spain, Holland had been so cruelly treated by the
Roman Catholic Church, that her sons revenged them-
selves on priests and Spaniards wherever they found
them, even if engaged in the most pious and innocent
work. At the Dutch settlements on the River Hudson

Missionaries in North America. 149

fire-arms were freely furnished to the Iroquois, a fierce
and warlike tribe, who bitterly hated the Hurons and
Algonquins, the Indian allies, or subjects of the
Catholic French. The Iroquois roamed about the
banks of the St. Lawrence, and seized a large party
of Christian Indians, with two French priests. The
tortures they made them suffer were beyond all
measure, and cannot be dwelt upon. One priest,
Goupil, was killed. The other, Isaac Jogues by name,
escaped, though one mass of scars, his fingers gnawed
off by dogs and men, and his left thumb sawn off with
a clam shell. He came back at last to France, and
the Queen, Anne of Austria, kissed these hands with
deep reverence. The Iroquois had sworn to root out
the nation of the Hurons. No Frenchman was safe
outside the walls of Quebec and the towns of Montreal
and Three Rivers. Yet Isaac Jogues went back again
to his post, and there he was taken again by the Iro-
quois ; and, after having strips of flesh cut from his arms
and back, was murdered at last with a hatchet by an
Indian who, two years later, came and begged for
baptism. The whole Huron country was devastated,
the Christians were hunted down, shot, or burnt.
Those taken were tortured in the most frightful ways,
especially all the " Black Robes." Father Brebeuf
was tied to a stake, with a necklace of red-hot axes

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hung on his shoulders. Lamenant was surrounded
with a girdle of pitch-smeared bark, and set fire to.
Boiling water was slowly dropped on their heads, strips
of flesh were cut off their limbs and eaten before their
eyes, but they never flinched. When Brebeuf's breast
was finally torn open, the chiefs flocked to drink the
blood of so valiant an enemy, thinking it would inspire
them with courage. The remnants of the tribe, eight
thousand in number, with a few chiefs, took refuge on
Great Manitoulin Isle, in Lake Huron. There they
were safe from all but starvation in the summer, but
they were horribly attacked as soon as the winter set
in. They were able to keep the island, but were shot
down if they hunted in the woods on the mainland, or
fished in the lake. Hunger and sickness destroyed
those who were not slain, and at last only three hun-
dred Hurons were left alive, when, with their French
clergy, they escaped to Quebec.

Then came the times of the Commonwealth in
England. A good many of the cavaliers or royal party
took refuge in Virginia, where they built stately manor-
houses, and brick churches, in the taste of the seven-
teenth century.

During the war which Charles I. maintained against
the Parliamentary forces, he commissioned his nephew,
Prince Rupert, to command a regiment of horse.

Missionaries in North America. 151

Prince Rupert, brilliant in attack, was deficient in
steadiness and in discretion. He surrendered the
city of Bristol to the Parliamentary forces, and was
dismissed. He was recalled in 1648, and given com-
mand of the royal fleet. With such of the squadron
as adhered to the royal cause, and with some of the
cavaliers who had served with him on land, he kept
afloat until 1651, nearly two years after the death of
Charles I. In that year the parliamentary admiral, the
famous Blake, defeated him, destroying most of his
ships. With the few that remained he made his
escape to the West Indies, where, with his brother
Maurice, he led the life of a buccaneer. Prince
Maurice was drowned in a storm off the Caribee
Islands. Prince Rupert eluded the ships sent to
capture him by Cromwell, and took refuge in France.

Fleets were despatched by the Parliament, both for
the repression of Prince Rupert, and to secure the
allegiance of the American colonies. This was effected
with little difficulty, Virginia submitting with the rest.
Oliver Cromwell, though not formally at war with
Spain, resolved to send out a fleet to put an end to
the Spanish claim to a sole right in the west. Admiral
Penn and General Venables, with about ten thousand
men, attacked Hispaniola, but were driven off. How-
ever, in May, 1666, they took Jamaica, which has

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remained an English island ever since, though the first
English colonists had to live a life of hard fighting to
keep off the Spaniards. The Negro slaves of the ex-
pelled Spaniards got into the hills, and lived a wild,
outlaw life. They were called Maroons, and were much
dreaded for many generations. Port Royal, the capital
of Jamaica, was the favourite harbour of the Buccaneers,
who used to put in there to sell their prizes, and spend
in riot their ill-gotten wealth.

Under Cromwell, magistrates in Ireland and Scotland
were directed to seize all idle and disaffected persons
they could lay hands on, and ship them off for Jamaica.
Before the taking of Jamaica, thousands of prisoners of
war had been sent as slaves to the island colonies ; and
it is stated that no less than seven thousand Scotch
prisoners, after the battle of Worcester, in which
Charles II. was defeated, were sent to Barbadoes.
That island was wonderfully rich and prosperous, and
was sometimes called Little England.

CHAP. XXII.— SPREAD OF FRENCH
POWER.

1635—1675.

fHE seventeenth century was the period of the
power and prosperity of France ; first, under
Cardinal Richelieu, the minister of Louis XIII., then
under Colbert, the minister of Louis XIV. Though
Roman Catholic, the French heeded the Pope's grant
of the west to Spain no more than did the English and
Dutch. They made a settlement in Hispaniola itself,
and granted the Isle of St. Christopher's, with three
lesser ones, to the Knights of Malta. De Poincy, one
of these knights, ruled well and wisely at Basse Terre,
in St. Christopher's, for twenty-one years, sitting under
a great fig-tree to administer justice, once a week.
There were three other French groups of islets, the
chief of each cluster being Guadaloupe, Martinique,
and Grenada. The great value of the Antilles for
growing sugar was beginning to be discovered. The

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Moors in Spain had grown the cane, and the Venetians
had brought it from the East. But it was the Portu-
guese who first began to cultivate it in Brazil, where
it flourished so much that the Dutch made an attack
on that country, and gained Pernambuco and half the
coast, in 1624. They held these lands forty years,
and would have kept them longer but for the parsi-
mony of the merchants, who would not keep up a
proper army, and vexed the people with their exactions.
The sugar cane was soon introduced into the
islands, and it flourished, especially in Barbadoes ;
but the English planters only used the juice to make
a refreshing drink, until a Dutchman, coming from
Brazil, taught them to make sugar. At the same time
De Poincy, in St. Christopher's, was, by study and
experiment, greatly improving the art of growing
and refining sugar. Coffee was likewise introduced
by the French, as soon as it had become the fashion
in Europe to drink it. A ship was sent out with young
plants, but it was becalmed on the way, and fresh
water ran so short that all the coffee trees died except
one, which was saved by the person in charge, who
suffered agonies of thirst for its sake. It was the
parent of all the numerous coffee plantations in Mar-
tinique and the rest of the West Indies. Cocoa and
ginger were also grown, but, unhappily, none of these

Spread of French Power. 155

industries could be carried on without Negro labour,
and there was a constant importation of slaves, stolen
from the coast of Africa. Not one of the Christian
nations was guiltless in this matter, but the French
were said to be kinder slave-masters than trie rest.

The group of islands near Florida, called the Tortu-
gas, had been a resort of buccaneers, chiefly of French
birth, and these growing tamer came under the parent
government. In the island of St. Vincent, one of the
Antilles, the Negroes who had run away from their
masters were called Maroons, as in Jamaica. They
i put themselves under French protection, and France
began to be one of the strongest powers in the West
Indies.

Spain was fast growing weaker. Portugal, in 1640,
had shaken off the yoke of Spain, and Brazil followed
the example of the mother country. After this the
i Dutch were turned out of Pernambuco, but allowed
I to settle in Guiana, on the northern coast of the con-
tinent. The French likewise had settlements there,
and called their colony Cayenne. Low, swampy, and
full of forests, the country was baleful to human life,
but very good for rice, sugar, spice, and pepper, and
thus valuable to people who did not care at what price
they grew rich.

The French never made their colonists pay taxes,

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and even lent them money in bad seasons, taking
pains to guard them from pirates. They also greatly
encouraged missions. The Jesuit missionaries in
Canada, who undauntedly prosecuted their work, were
extending their teaching far and wide among the
Indians. The French settlers made friends with
the natives, often married squaws, and were on better
terms with them than any of the other nations. In
1673 Jacques Marquette, a Jesuit missionary, found
his way from the great lakes down the river Wis-
consin to the Mississippi, that mightiest of rivers. He
followed the Mississippi down the mouth of the Ar-
kansas, and then, turning back, took the river Illinois
on his return, having voyaged in canoes nearly three
thousand miles in four months. Following in the
track of Marquette, La Salle, a fur trader, a man of
wonderful courage and endurance, reached the Gulf
of Mexico, by the Mississippi River, in 1682. He
had held the plan in mind even before Marquette's
expedition, and contended for years against oppo-
sition and jealousy. He returned to France, bearing
tidings of his discovery, and the country was called
Louisiana, after Louis XIV. The French contem-
plated a chain of forts along the banks of the great
river, to connect Louisiana with Canada. Direct com-
munication was held, by sea, between France and

Spread of French Power. 157

Louisiana, but the first settlement would appear to
have been made, in 1699, at Biloxi. From that point
the colonists, starved out, attempted the settlement at
New Orleans in 1706. The colony languished. Upon
the failure of John Law's great Mississippi scheme,
the colony passed, in 1718, into the hands of Bienville,
who is considered the founder of New Orleans.

During the prime years of Louis XIV. the English
king, Charles II., was led into wars with the Dutch,
in which the colonies took part. Indeed, the colonists
began their wars in 1664, while the mother countries
were at peace. The English declared that they had
the first claim to New Netherlands, as the Dutch had
called their settlement on the North River, and an
English fleet summoned the chief city, then named
New Amsterdam, to surrender. The governor, Stuy-
vesant, whose nickname was Hard-headed Peter, tore
the letter to pieces ; but the citizens made him join the
bits together, and, thinking it impossible to hold out,
forced him to surrender, though he declared he would
rather be carried out dead. The Dutch claim was
divided into two provinces — one called New York, in
honour of James, Duke of York ; the other, New
Jersey, in compliment to Sir George Carteret, one of
the grantees, sometime governor of the channel island
Jersey. The city of New Amsterdam became the city

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of New York. The Dutch settlers remained, and kept
their own language and habits. The titles of land
were not disturbed. The Patroons still kept their
manors and privileges. Dutch was taught in the
schools. To this day many of the oldest families
show their parentage by their names, and Dutch words
remain in the language.

Among the religious movements which preceded
and accompanied and followed the establishment of
the Commonwealth in England, was the rise of the
" Society of Friends," founded by George Fox. The
founder of the society says in his journal, " Justice
Bennett, of Derby, was the first that called us
Quakers, because I bade them tremble at the name
of the Lord." The " Friends " maintained that spiri-
tual worship forbids all sacraments, all forms, and all
ordained ministers ; they bound themselves to the
utmost plainness of speech and of dress, and also to
use no weapon, even in self-defence. If, even in
England, their innovations in worship and their defi-
ance of laws, now happily obsolete, subjected them to
persecution, and even to popular obloquy, it is no
wonder that in Massachusetts they fared ill. The
Quakers at their beginning were as yet not the logical
and quiet people that they became under the teachings
of Barclay and of Penn. They were not at first, as

Spread of French Power. 159

they now are, inoffensive to others, asking only peace
for themselves. The laws of Massachusetts at the
date when the people called Quakers ventured into
the colony imposed stern restrictions upon all the
people, and specially directed the modes of public
worship and the tenets of religion as the founders of
the colony held their faith and worship. To permit
the Quakers and the Baptists to set the magistrates
and the laws at defiance would have been, as the
Puritans thought, to subvert the State, and release
all from obedience. Severe laws were added to those
already in existence. The meetings of Quakers and
Baptists were forbidden. Their books were burned,
and they themselves were flogged. They were
banished the colony, and if they returned the law
imposed on them the penalty of death. It does not
appear that more than four executions took place
under this barbarous law. A fifth victim was con-
victed and sentenced in the year 1659. But the
inutility, as well as the cruelty, of persecution began
to be acknowledged, and a public opinion, more mer-
ciful than the law, required a stay in these wretched
proceedings. The condemned man was spared and
set at liberty, as were also twenty-seven of his com-
panions. About this time came a royal order from
England that the persecution of Quakers and others

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should cease, and thus the death of the four Quaker
martyrs inaugurated toleration. In England, too, the
Quakers were winning favour in the people's minds by
their earnestness and their simplicity, so unlike the
luxurious and ambitious splendour that Louis XIV.
of France had made the fashion. William Penn, son
of the Admiral Sir William Penn, became a member of
the society. Born to wealth, of high connections, with
official preferment open before him, he cast in his lot
with George Fox ; and never did a new sect obtain
in one person a more valuable accession. The irrit-
able old sailor beat William as a boy, and turned him
out of doors, after he had been expelled from Oxford
for consorting with "Friends" and "Non-conformity."
Recalling his son, the father tried the experiment of
giving him a tour on the continent in distinguished
company, among whom the future Quaker was quite
a cavalier in dress, pursuits, and manners, and was
pronounced on his return a " most modish fine gentle-
man." He had even a captaincy in the army offered
him, which but for his father he would have accepted.
But the young man returned to his first love — he
became a pronounced Quaker. His father forbade
him his house. His mother conveyed to him pri-
vately an allowance, and William Penn became an
industrious controversial writer and preacher. He

Spread of French Power. 161

was imprisoned nine months in the Tower on a charge
of heresy, and his release was obtained at last by the
influence of his father with the Duke of York. Again
he was arrested, and fined for contempt, the jury
failing to convict. His father paid his fine. During
his long imprisonment in the Tower his father, re-
specting the firmness he could not subdue, was his
frequent visitor. The old admiral gave him his dying
blessing, and William Penn became heir, among other
things, of a demand of sixteen thousand pounds
against the royal exchequer. Charles II. was very
willing to procure the cancelling of this by the gift of
a tract in the New World. The king called it Penn-
Sylvania, though that word, without the prefix, was
Penn's choice. A time had now come, with the resto-
ration of the Stewarts, whose sympathies were with
the Roman Church, that others desired toleration as
well as the Quakers. Penn's broad, tolerant mind
entertained sympathy for all, insomuch that some
bigots of his time accused him of being a Jesuit. His
hopes were directed to a " holy experiment," the estab-
lishment of a government " in which perfect toleration
should prevent religious persecution, and well-defined
civil rights secure to all men equality.'* A refuge for
the Quakers, Pennsylvania was also opened to all who
called themselves Christians. Penn's charter was

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granted in 1681. The first settlers under it sailed
in the same year, and on the 8th of November, 1682,
Penn landed in Philadelphia, the City of Brotherly
Love. The future city was at that time but a collec-
tion of wigwams or huts, and there were even dwellers
in hollow trees and in caves. The advantages of the
site, the character of the laws, and reputation of the
founder, built up the city and province. Soon after
William Penn's landing he had a conference with the
chiefs of the neighbouring tribes, and made friends
with them so firmly that for years it was the highest
praise an Indian could give to a white man to say he
was like Onas, which was Penn's Indian name.

CHAP. XXIII.— INDIAN WARS.

1675—1704.

> FTER the cruel extinction of the Pequod Indians
in 1636, there was generally peace with the
Indians in New England until 1675. During that
period the labours of the missionary Eliot, as noted
in Chapter XXL, had been unremitting. The Indian
towns generally, near Boston, were about fourteen, and
the congregations of " praying Indians" are said to
have been no less than thirty. Several sachems were
amongst them, but the great body of the Indians were
jealous and suspicious of the converts ; and some
powerful tribes resolutely proclaimed their determi-
nation to abide by the customs of their fathers. In-
deed, Massasoit, the first Sachem with whom the
colonists made treaties, wished to insert a clause that
the English should not attempt to convert the Indians.
Of course this was not assented to. And what a treaty
meant was little understood by the Indians. The

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Indians considered themselves allies, the colonists
claimed jurisdiction. Individual Indians made sales
of land which their sachems disallowed, and the
decisions of the English courts only farther aggrieved
the natives. The Christian Indians were suspected
of furnishing information or repeating rumours to the
disadvantage of their race ; and as the hunting grounds
of the natives passed from their possession, quarrels
were constantly rising between the Indians and the
border settlers. An unfortunate condition of mutual
exasperation existed, which at last broke out into war.
Massasoit died about the year 1653, at an advanced
age, having been, from their first arrival, the friend of
the English, though he never would consent to Chris-
tianity. About that time his two sons, Wamsutta and
Metacom, came to Plymouth, and in open court pro-
fessed their friendship for the English, and desired
that names should be given them. Wamsutta received
the name of Alexander, and Metacom was named
Philip. By these names they are usually spoken of.
Alexander succeeded his father, but upon an accusation
that he had made war upon certain Indians, subjects
of the English, he was summarily seized by the
authorities to be taken to Plymouth to answer the
charge. He died within three days of fever, or morti-
fication. This was in 1661.

Indian IVars. 165

Philip, the younger brother, succeeded Alexander,
and appeared at Plymouth to profess his friendship,
and obtain recognition as Sachem of the Wampanoags,
that being the chief tribe under his rule. But the
indignity — if no worse — that Alexander had suffered
deepened the mutual distrust between the Indians and
the English till, in 1675, the famous King Philip's war
broke out. The colonists had become convinced that
Philip was organizing an alliance among the various
tribes against them, and preparations for war were
reported among the Indians. Conferences between
Philip and the Plymouth men were held, in which he
promised everything demanded of him. Still the
colonists were in a state of great alarm and uncertainty.

Philip was summoned in the spring of 1675 to
appear at Plymouth, and submit to an examination in
regard to his conduct. And here comes in the name
of an Indian who, whether designedly or not, caused
the outbreak of hostilities. John Sassamon, belonging
to a family of " praying Indians/' received the ad-
vantages of Eliot's educational provisions, and went
from Cambridge to Natick as a teacher. On account
of some misdemeanour, it is said, he left Natick.
However that may be, he renounced Christianity, and
carried the exercise of his gifts over to King Philip,
whom he served as a competent secretary. Again he

1 66 Stories of American History.

veered in his professions, principles he could have had
none, went back to Natick, and gave such evidences
of repentance that the venerable Eliot received and
employed him. After this, Sassamon, under one pre-
text and another, visited King Philip's tribe frequently,
and reported to the English what he heard and saw,
and probably what he imagined. About the time that
Philip was cited, Sassamon made one of his visits to
the Wampanoags. It was his last. His body was
found thrust through a hole in the ice, with his neck
broken, and his hat and gun near by, as if he had com-
mitted suicide. A jury was empannelled, who decided
that he had been murdered. Three prominent Indians
were seized, convicted of the murder on the single
testimony of another Indian, and forthwith hanged.
The young men of their tribe instantly retaliated by an
attack on the settlement of Swanzey, which was burned,
and in and near it several persons were slain.

Thus began King Philip's war. It lasted over a
year, and not one open battle took place. Every-
where in the out-settlements, and near the villages, the
savages pounced upon their victims, or shot them from
their ambush, and all New England was kept in terror.

The list of disasters and burnings is too long to
give ; the result in loss to the colonists was the death
of more than six hundred men in the prime of man-

Indian IVars. 167

hood, besides women and children. There was scarcely
a family but lost a member. Twelve or thirteen towns
were destroyed, and one in every twenty families was
burned out of house and home. On the side of the
Indians, between two and three thousand were killed
or made prisoners, and of the captives, against the
protest of Eliot, large numbers were sold as slaves ; in
the isles where the tropically born Indians had already
been worked to death. Within a month from the
beginning of the war Philip was driven from his home
at Mount Hope, and from that time he was to the
English a nearly invisible enemy, inciting the Indian
tribes to sudden but disconnected attacks. He had
many narrow escapes ; but at last determined to return
to the home of his tribe, a hunted man. His own
tribe now began to plot against the ruined chieftain.
Once more he narrowly escaped, but his wife and only
son were captured. " Now," he said, " my heart
breaks, I am ready to die." A few days afterward
he was shot by a faithless Indian. His son was sold
as a slave in the Bermudas. So ended the last of
the Wampanoags ; and with the end of King Philip's
war the hostile spirit of the Indians in Massachusetts
was quenched.

In Maine, the tidings of the Indian rising in Massa-
chusetts was the signal for war by the Indians upon

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the settlers. But there was no general rising of the
tribes. The sailors of an English ship were guilty of
outrages upon the Indians, and they avenged them-
selves upon the settlers. Among these lawless acts it
is recorded that a party of sailors seized a canoe, in
which were an Indian woman and child, and, having
heard that an Indian baby could swim like a duck,
they threw it into the River Saco. The mother dived
and rescued it, but it died directly after. The father,
a considerable chief, vowed vengeance, and a war, or
series of forays along the whole border, commenced,
and lasted for nearly three years. The tradition of the
early days of Maine are full of Indian horrors. At
Norridgewock the Indians attacked a farmhouse, where
the men were absent, leaving, unprotected, fifteen
women and children. A brave girl, named Tozer, set
her back against the door to keep it fast while the
others escaped. All saved themselves except the
brave girl and two poor little children who could not
get over the fence. The Indians cut through the door
with their hatchets, and left the poor girl for dead, but
her friends found her, and she recovered.

For the most part, the French had suited themselves
much better to the Redskins than the English had
done. Not only had their clergy done their best as
missionaries, but the settlers, with their merry good

Indian IVars. 169

humour, had adapted themselves to their habits, and
been adopted into their tribes, and the Governor of
Canada, Count de Frontenac, learned the war dance
and danced with the chiefs. Nova Scotia, with very
indefinite boundaries, was ceded back to France in
1667, and Frenchmen settled far down in Maine.
Baron de Castin had a trading station on the Penobscot
River, at a point where his name is still preserved.
He married the daughter of a sachem, lived like a
sachem, and was obeyed as one. Like the other
traders, he made no scruple of selling arms to the
Indians, and thus the struggle was prolonged and
enmity was stored up against the French. Peace at
last was made by a treaty, in which it was stipulated
that in return for their security the English should pay
an annual quit-rent of a peck of corn for every English
family.

Tribe hatreds were strong among the Indians, and
were increased by their siding with this European
nation or that. The friends of the French, the
Hurons, Abenaquis, and Algonquins were the ancient
foes of the Iroquois, who were formerly called the
Five Nations, because they consisted of five tribes —
the Cayugas, Mohawks, Oneidas, Onandagas, and
Senecas. Another tribe, the Tuscaroras, afterward
joined, and the confederacy is now usually spoken of as

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the Six Nations. But as the Tuscaroras did not come
in until 1712, the old name may still be used. The
Five Nations were the friends, first of the Dutch, then of
the English, and both the French and Dutch furnished
the Indians. Even when there was a treaty between
the European powers, their red allies carried on their
own quarrels, and thus involved the whites. In 1687,
the French entrapped a number of Mohawks, and
shipped them off to work as galley slaves in France.
The Mohawks in revenge burned and destroyed
French settlements in Canada. In 1690, war between
France and England having followed the Revolution
of 1688, and the accession of William III., the
French governor of Canada, Frontenac, despatched
three expeditions, in midwinter — one against New
York, one against New Hampshire, and one against
Maine. The white and red allies worked together.
Much mischief was done, including the destruction of
Schenectady. The English colonists invaded Canada
in return, and this kind of warfare went on for years,
till the peace of Ryswick in 1697 put a temporary end
to it. It was conducted with more savagery than one
can bear to think of. The tribes who had listened to
the missionaries were beginning to give up the practice
of torturing their captives ; but the state of things was
so terrible, that a price was paid on both sides for the

Indian IVars. 171

head or the scalp of a hostile Indian. Every village
in the north of the colonies lived in constant alarm.
After the treaty of Ryswick there was a lull, but it was
of short duration. In 1702 the English and French
were again at war, and the old enmities of the whites
and Indians were revived. On the last night in
February, 1704, a party of French and Indians came
from Canada to the little town of Deerfield, in the
Massachusetts. The settlers had been warned by the
Mohawk Indians of their danger. A stockade had
been erected and sentinels placed, but they had retired
as morning broke, and the people were waked from
their sleep by the war whoop. The enemy was within
the place, no resistance was possible. Forty-seven
were killed, over a hundred in number were carried off
as prisoners. The village was set on fire, and all the
buildings except one house and the church were
burned. In an hour after sunrise, before the few who
escaped could give the alarm, the stealthy savages
were on their return. The wretched captives had
their clothes taken from them, and no food given
them except nuts and acorns and scraps of dogs' flesh.
The weak who could not keep up with the rest were
killed, except such children as pleased the Indians,
and for them they made sledges. All who could walk
were forced to carry burdens. Such as reached

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Canada were sold to the French as slaves, but were
kindly treated and allowed to be ransomed by their
friends.

Among the captives were John Williams, the
pastor of Deerfield, his wife and five children. The
wife was killed by the Indians on the way. Mr.
Williams was released in 1706, and on his return
published " The Redeemed Captive," a narrative of
his sad adventures. His wife Eunice deserves a
name among the saints. She did not leave her Bible
behind, and the wondering savages looked at her as,
when they rested, she turned to its pages for conso-
lation. At last she could go no farther, and sank
down to die. Her husband cheered her with the hope
of the " house not made with hands, eternal in the
heavens." She "justified God in what had hap-
pened," and commended her five children to God, and
their father's care. A tomahawk ended her sufferings,
and her husband said : " She rests in peace, in joy
unspeakable and full of glory." Of her children three
sons became ministers of the Gospel, and one daughter,
having been adopted by Christian Indians in Montreal,
would not leave them. She married a son of the
family, and when years after she visited her friends in
Deerfield, it was in an Indian dress, which with Indian
customs she never kid aside. She clung to her

Indian IVars. 173

husband and children. Others of the children of this
captivity became hunters and trappers.

In the thirty years after the outbreak of Philip's
war the " praying Indians " kept their loyalty to the
English. The Government trusted them, but the
people were jealous of them, and not quite just or
merciful. In the stern Old Testament idea of national
policy, the Indians were to them Hivites and Jebu-
sites and children of Ammon. All through the time
from the days of Philip, dreadful incidents were hap-
pening like those we have been reading ; and when
there was no public war, which was seldom, there
would be private quarrels. All these things were
against the conversion of the Indians, but efforts still
were made. Services were held for them in the
English church at Albany, and Easter Day was a
great holiday for the Mohawks who came to the
communion. The praying town of Natick was
broken up by the war with Philip. The Indians
whom the people distrusted were removed to Deer
Island in Boston Harbour, where during the winter
they suffered piteously. One party was plundered on
the way by some English soldiers ; was plundered of
all they had, even to their poor pewter Communion
chalice. After the war they crept back to Natick,- and
as long as Eliot lived, which was till 1690, they kept

1 74 Stories of American History.

their character as "praying Indians." After his death,
from the hatred of their own race, and the jealousy of
the whites, they faded away.

The sale of " fire water " was not restricted, and it
became the Red man's curse as well as the white man's.
Under its influence, Indians made sales of land, which,
when sober, they denied. The white settlements
spoiled the Indian hunting grounds. The Indian was
warned off and roughly treated ; he retaliated by
stealing cattle, if not children, and burning houses.
He was shot at like a wild beast, then he fell on the
Englishman with the cunning and cruelty of a fiend.
So along the borders the Indians were nearly driven
off, and those who remained withered away under the
influence of dirt, brandy, despair, and a cramped life.
This has been going on for two hundred years, and,
though it cannot be said to be over yet, the con-
sciousness of strength now makes the white merciful,
in cases where weakness and fear then made him
desperate and cruel

The Six Nations in New York sided with the
English in her war with her colonies. Their service
was accepted, in spite of the indignant protest of the
Earl of Chatham, and the opposition of other high-
minded Englishmen. The massacres of Wyoming
and of Cherry Valley, and the murder of farmers near

Indian Wars. 175

Fort Schuyler, with the devastation of miles around,
show their course, and these are but leading incidents.
In lesser atrocities they spared neither friend nor foe.
A portion of the Senecas remain on a reservation still
in New York ; the Mohawks retired to Canada after
the war ; and both are thriving under Christian in-
fluence. The Mohawks have the Bible and Prayer
Book ; but of Eliot's " praying Indians " there was
not one alive at the beginning of this century who
could read the Indian Bible.

CHAP. XXIV.— THE ENGLISH CONQUEST
OF CANADA.

1732—1762.

tHE English settlements were but a narrow line
along the coast of North America, for a thousand
miles, with the French to the north of them, and the
Spaniards to the south ; and they were in great dread
and jealousy of both. Whenever there was war in
Europe the colonists attacked one another ; and, as
Florida became fuller of Spanish settlers, it was
thought to threaten Carolina. James Edward
Oglethorpe, a brave English gentleman, who had
served on the staff of Prince Eugene, and on his return
to England entered Parliament, was appointed a com-
missioner for the relief of insolvent debtors, and
inquiry into the state of prisons. People were then
imprisoned for debt, and as of course they could do
nothing to pay what they owed, there they lay for life
in a hopeless state of misery and neglect. General

The English Conquest of Canada. 177

Oglethorpe persuaded King George II. and Par-
liament that it would be a good thing to have another
colony between Carolina and Florida ; and to permit
him to hold land in trust for the poor, peopling it with
the most deserving of these poor debtors, and with
other unfortunate persons. In 1733 Oglethorpe
landed with his first party of emigrants, and laid out
and founded the city of Savannah ; and " the humane
reformer of prison discipline became the father of a
state, the place of refuge for the distressed people of
Britain, and the persecuted Protestants of Europe."
After about a year's sojourn in his colony, during which
he established friendly relations with the Indians,
Oglethorpe returned to England, and in 1736 went
out again with a new party of emigrants. Among
them were a company of Moravians, and John arid
Charles Wesley, the founders of Methodism. After
Wesley, followed Whitefield four years later, another
of the Methodist pioneers. He visited all the English
colonies, from Florida to the northern frontier. His
great object was help for Georgian orphans, whose
parents had been sometimes solely recommended by
poverty, without energy. Whitefield made many
voyages, and many land journeys, and died in 1770 at
Newbury in Massachusetts. His bones repose in the
crypt of a church in Newburyport, where they may be

1 78 Stories of American History.

seen by visitors ; a rare, perhaps unique, instance of
respect to Protestant relics, and certainly without a
parallel in the United States.

The Moravians who went out with Oglethorpe were
the reinforcement of a larger body who had gone out
before. They claimed their origin from John Huss, and
claimed also a succession of bishops. Persecuted on the
continent of Europe, the Society for the Propagation
of the Gospel, seconding the enterprise of Oglethorpe,
invited them to settle in Georgia, as the colony had
been named. They received free passage, provision
for a whole season, allotments of land, and all the
privileges of native Englishmen. Scottish High-
landers, who, after the failing of the Jacobite risings,
could no longer live at home, joined the colony, and
volunteers from many directions came in. Oglethorpe
trained his colonists to fight bravely against the
Spaniards, and promoted habits of industry. He
thought the climate of Georgia good for silk worms,
and brought them into the colony, choosing as its
arms, a family of these little creatures, with the motto,
" Not for themselves but others." His laws allowed
no slavery ; but after his surrender of his charter and
colony to the crown, in 1752, slavery crept in, and
Negroes were owned by the rich colonists of Georgia,
as well as everywhere else in America.

The English Conquest of Canada. 179

The Spanish power was weak. It was the French
that was really alarming. The chain of forts was
spreading, which was to connect Louisiana with
Canada. Along the northern border there was
constant petty warfare ; the French Canadians in-
vading New England, and the men of New England
and Canada, and the Indian allies of each, committing
atrocities on their neighbours. When in 1712 peace
followed the war between England and France, which
had lasted nine years, Acadie, or, as we call it, Nova
Scotia, was yielded to the English, but the boundary
was not fully made out, and the border war went on.
It was principally in the hands of the Indians, who
could not understand how they were made, by treaties
in which they had no voice, subject first to one
European power and then another.

There was a brief interval of quiet, but the war in
the colonies broke out with double force when George
II. and Louis XV. went to war in 1740 about the
accession of Maria Theresa. In 1744, Annapolis, an
Acadian city, whose name had been changed in honour
of Queen Anne, was threatened by a French expedi-
tion, which surprised an English garrison on the Strait
of Canseau. Annapolis was not taken, but the French
plundered the port, and carried off some prisoners to
Louisburg, a fort on Cape Breton, so strong that it

1 80 Stories of American History.

was called the American Gibraltar, as it commanded
the mouths of the River St. Lawrence. These
prisoners, upon their release on parole, told Governor
Shirley, of Massachusetts, of some weak points in the
fortification, and an expedition was fitted out by New
England men alone-— without help from England —
which actually mastered this fort, and thus saved their
own country from an invasion. The expedition was
commanded by William Pepperel, a merchant of Maine,
who for this exploit was knighted. The colonists
were greatly disappointed and angered, when, two
years later, at the peace of Aix la Chapelle, their
conquest was given back to the French.

The French forts continued to spread at the west,
beyond the Alleghany mountains. No English
colonists had yet made homes there, and each nation
claimed the country — the French, because Marquette
and La Salle had first discovered it ; the English, as
having bought it from the Indians. In 1749 a charter
was granted to certain colonists of Virginia and Mary-
land, under which was formed the Ohio Company, for
the settlement of the Ohio valley. Here began quar-
rels with the French, who drove back the settlers, and
even established forts in the borders of Pennslyvania.
Governor Dinwiddie, of Virginia, resolved to send a
messenger to expostulate with the French officers.

The English Conquest of Canada. 181

He selected for this purpose George Washington.
He was a Virginian, born February 22nd, 1732, of
one of the old families, who lived in the colony like
English squires. His father died when he was ten
years old, and he was largely indebted to his elder
brother Lawrence for his education and the formation of
his character. In his education the practical was up-
permost, and Lord Fairfax, the grantee of an immense
tract in Virginia, noticing the exactness of his work in
his exercises in surveying near his home, employed the
lad of sixteen to survey the Fairfax domain. So well
was the work done that Lord Fairfax procured for
him, at eighteen, the appointment of public surveyor.
The Ohio troubles had awakened a military spirit in
Virginia, and when the colony was divided into mili-
tary districts for the training of the militia, George
Washington, at the age of nineteen, was appointed one
of the adjutants-general, with the rank of major. His
brother Lawrence, one of the chief men in the Ohio
Company, no doubt influenced these appointments ;
and the conduct of the younger brother vindicated the
elder's choice. George Washington was twenty-one
years of age when, in the beginning of the winter of
1753, he started on his mission, travelling with Indian
help through dangerous forests, and crossing the rivers
in canoes, swimming the horses. After all, the French

1 82 Stories of American History.

gave no redress, but showed plainly that they meant
to have the whole Ohio valley. The return journey
was still worse. They counted on crossing the rivers
on the ice, but found the Alleghany frozen solid only
a few rods from the shore, and were obliged to con-
struct a raft. The current was full of floating blocks,
one of which struck Washington's setting pole, jerking
him into the water. He saved himself by catching
hold of the logs of the raft. After a night of suffering,
the party managed to cross the river on the drift ice
which was wedged together.

The Virginians resolved on the defence of the
frontier. There was peace between France and Eng-
land, but each power sent armaments to America to
defend its frontiers. Virginia asked help from the
other provinces, but none would give it but South
Carolina. The French could not be hindered from
establishing a fresh post, Fort Duquesne, at the con-
fluence of the Ohio and Monongahela, which completed
the line of sixty from Quebec to New Orleans. Then
General Braddock was sent with an army to help the
colonists. He was cautioned by Benjamin Franklin,
now from a printer's boy become a prominent official,
and he was warned by others, of the character of Indian
warfare. Disregarding advice, he proceeded in his
own way into the forests. George Washington, after

The English Conquest of Canada. 183

a campaign with Virginian settlers, had resigned his
colonial commission ; but he accepted an invitation
from General Braddock to join his staff. On the Qth
of July, 1755, within seven miles of Fort Duquesne,
while following a path only twelve feet wide, but in
martial array, the English marched into an ambush.
The French and Indians were much fewer in number,
but numbers were of no use in such a place ; and the
English soldiers were confused and dismayed by this
mode of fighting, with the enemy hidden among the
trees. Braddock retreated, mortally wounded, and
Washington, the only one of his staff who was unhurt,
had to do his best with his Virginian rangers to cover
the retreat. One half of the English force were killed
or wounded. Three companies of Rangers had only
thirty men left alive. Out of eighty British officers,
twenty-six were killed and thirty-six were wounded.
Of Washington, the Indians said that the great
Manitou guarded him. Two horses were killed
under him, and four balls penetrated his coat.

The Indians thought that luck went with the French,
and the border burnings and desolations were worse
than ever. At the north the English claimed that
Nova Scotia included all the tract now known as New
Brunswick, as well as that now known as Nova Scotia.
The French claimed that the Bay of Fundy was the

184 Stories of American History,

dividing line. Nova Scotia, which had been for thirty
years a British province, had, in its population, seven-
teen or eighteen thousand French settlers, who were
excused from bearing arms against France, and were
called " French Neutrals," but were suspected, with
more or less justice, of being ready to favour any
movement to restore their ancient allegiance. The
dispute about the boundary between New France and
Nova Scotia, carried on by protocol in Europe, was
brought to a point by the French in America, who
erected two forts on the peninsula at the head of
the Bay of Fundy. Massachusetts furnished three
thousand men, the commander of which force was
subordinated to an English officer who joined the
Massachusetts men there on landing. The two forts
were taken without difficulty, and in the garrisons
were found three hundred French Neutrals. To dis-
perse the soldiers was easy enough, but to manage the
fifteen or twenty thousand Acadians was not so easy.
The Governor of Nova Scotia, the Chief Justice of the
province, and two British admirals, at a council held in
July, 1755, determined on the deportation of the un-
fortunate Frenchmen. They were taken off in ships,
and landed at various ports, every colony receiving its
quota. Some escaped, but the number actually trans-
ported is estimated at from seven to ten thousand.

The English Conquest of Canada. 185

Their country was laid waste, and their houses were
burned, and great hardships attended their removal.
It was a harsh and cruel measure, the only excuse for
which was what was deemed a military necessity.
The sympathy of the world has been with the Aca-
dians; and Longfellow's poem, "Evangeline," is founded
on the story of these exiles. After the peace of 1 763,
those who survived were permitted to return ; but only
some thirteen or fourteen hundred were found to
accept the permission. The colonial Assemblies, in
many instances, had provided for the passage of the
exiles to France, Canada, St. Domingo, and Louisiana.

War between England and France was declared in
1756 ; and the hostilities of the colonies endorsed by
the mother countries. Things went ill with England
nearly all through 1757, but in 1758 the tide began
to turn. Washington, under Brigadier-General John
Forbes, assisted in driving the French out of the Ohio
Valley. Fort Duquesne was taken, and renamed Fort
Pitt : it is now the city of Pittsburg. Fort Niagara,
near the Falls, was taken with other posts, and the
great line of forts was broken.

Ticonderoga, an advance post which the French
had established in New York, surrendered to the
British arms, after having twice repulsed them. Louis-
berg, on Cape Breton, was recaptured, General Wolfe

1 86 Stories of American History.

here winning the title of " the hero of Louisberg."
But the great exploit of the war was the capture of
Quebec. Wolfe was sent in 1759 against the city
with only eight thousand men. Quebec stands on a
steep rock, in the fork of the rivers St. Lawrence and
St. Charles, and was one of the strongest places in the
world. General Montcalm came with an army to
protect it, and repulsed Wolfe, who was nearly in
despair, when he was told of a steep path, leading to
the Heights of Abraham above the city. He sent his
troops in transports up the River St. Lawrence beyond
Quebec, thus deceiving the French ; and on the night
of September i2th, 1759, the troops descended the
river in boats, drifting with the current, without sail
or oar, climbed the heights to the plateau called the
Plains of Abraham, and the French in the morning
beheld an army above them. Montcalm, whose camp
was outside of the city, advanced and gave battle.
Each general received a death wound. As Wolfe,
mortally wounded, was carried to the rear he heard
the cry, "They run!" "Who run?" he asked.
" The French," he was told. " God be praised ! " he
said ; " I die happy." Montcalm, on the other hand,
said, on being told that his wound was mortal : " So
much the better. I shall not see the surrender of
Quebec." The famous citadel did surrender, without

The English Conquest of Canada. 187

waiting for an assault ; and though the French tried
to retake it, they could not, and the next year had to
surrender Montreal, their stronghold.

The English fleet was very strong at this time, and
Lord Rodney took St. Lucie, Tobago, Guadaloupe,
and the Western Caribean Islands, as well as Marti-
nique, the strongest of all. Spain was, in 1761, drawn
into the war, as an ally of France, partly by a Bourbon
family compact, partly by disputes with England about
the Spanish Central American colonies. England made
war upon Spain as an ally of her enemy France. Ad-
miral Keppel captured the great city of Havana, the
capital of Cuba. Treasure ships were taken, as in the
days of Elizabeth. Peace was reached in 1763, by the
treaty of Fontainebleau.

CHAP. XXV. — EXPULSION OF THE
JESUITS FROM SOUTH AMERICA.

1750—1773.

tHE Portuguese had always been the allies of
England ; and Brazil and all that depended on it
took part against Spain. But in the year 1750, a
treaty was made between Spain and Portugal, which
traced out the boundaries of their American posses-
sions, and defined the borders of Brazil.

The River Uruguay became part of the boundary
line, and all settlements which had been made to the
eastward, or Portuguese side, by grants from Spain,
were to be broken up. All moveable goods might be
taken away, but all the houses, churches, and lands
were to be given up, and the people themselves to
remove to the Spanish possessions. It was like the
removal of the French settlers of Acadie. The kings
and their ministers, who sat at home, and looked at
their maps, had no notion of the cruelty of their orders

Expulsion of Jesuits from South America. 189

to all these living beings ; for on the Uruguay were
seven flourishing Jesuit settlements, where thirty
thousand Guarani Indians were living, as their fathers
and grandfathers had lived before them, as farmers
and planters — a peaceful, civilized Christian life, look-
ing on the land as their own, which it was.

The Jesuits sent to the two courts all sorts of repre-
sentations of the misery that would be inflicted ; but
the Marquis of Valdelirios, who had been sent out
to see the treaty enforced, allowed no delay. The
Jesuits were accused of having done much harm in
Europe by their perpetual interference on behalf of
the Pope ; and though here on the Uruguay they
were quite in the right, and were defenders of the weak,
they suffered for the dislike their order had excited.
Because they had tried to obtain from the governors a
delay long enough for tidings from home of the result
of their appeal, the Bishop of Buenos Ayres forbade
them to administer the sacraments ; and because they
tried to induce their poor natives to submit patiently to
what could not be prevented, they were accused of
having sold their settlements to the Spaniards, and
were treated like prisoners even by the Guaranis.

The Jesuits knew that resistance would be of no use
and that the Guaranis were not fit to fight, having lost
all the spirit and dash of their wild forefathers. But

190 Stories of American History.

there was no hindering them from taking up arms to
defend their homes, and this put an end to all hopes of
mercy for them. The Spanish and Portuguese armies
joined together and routed the gatherings of these
poor people, killing some, plundering the rest, and
absolutely driving them out, to revert again to the
savage life from which their ancestors had been re-
claimed. The Jesuits were accused of having incited
them to rebel, and even of having taught them cruelty
to the wounded. But this was disproved by the
evidence of the Guaranis themselves, who declared
that the Fathers had never taught them anything but
to submit, and that they would not have rebelled, had
time been given them to remove their property and
cattle. In a few years more, the Courts agreed to
change again the boundary line, the Guaranis returned
to their homes, and the mission work began again,
though some of the younger and stronger men, having
once tasted the delights of savage liberty, could not be
brought back.

At home, however, feeling had set strongly against
the Jesuits. They had done much harm as well as
much good, and alike for the evil as for the good, the
Roman Catholic Kings and their Ministers were deter-
mined to put them down. The foremost in the attack
was the Marquis of Pombal, the Prime Minister of the

Expztlsion of Jesuits from South America. 191

King of Portugal. He hated all Monks and Friars, and
the Jesuits most of all, and he seems to have honestly
thought that the Indians of Uruguay, Maranham, and
Paraguay were kept by them in an inferior state ;
ignorant, half-clothed, and working to enrich the Order.
So directions were sent out that no ecclesiastic should
hold any Indians under his power, and that the Jesuit
mission stations should be made into towns, with
magistrates like those of Portugal and Spain. Pombal
had never seen, and therefore could not understand, the
state of things, and that these natives really could not
take care of themselves like white men, and that to take
away the Fathers, who knew how to deal with them,
was to give them up to ruin and savagery. He drew
up long instructions to directors, who were to take
charge of them, make them learn industry, teach them
to speak Portuguese, and, in short, to make them just
like Europeans. This was to take effect from the
River Amazon down to the River Paraguay, wherever
the Jesuit Fathers had missions and settlements of
half- reclaimed Indians.

At the same time, the Pope was entreated to send
out a commission to inquire into the conduct of the
Order in South America, and to see whether they
were not like merchants, soldiers, and little kings all
along these borders of Brazil. Just as the inquiry

192 Stories of American History.

had begun in 1758, King Joseph was shot at and
wounded in the streets of Lisbon, in his carriage, and
a plot amongst the nobles of Portugal was discovered,
in which some Jesuits were said to be concerned.
Probably this was untrue, but they suffered for the
sins of their predecessors. Father Juan Mariana had
published long before, in 1599, a treatise in which it is
maintained that it is lawful to compass the death of a
tyrant. The book had been condemned by the General
of the Order, but it drew on the Jesuits an odium of
which their enemies were not slow to take advantage.
The Order was suppressed in Portugal, and in its
American possessions. Every Jesuit was sought out,
they were brought together and shipped off — one
hundred and sixty- eight from Bahia, one hundred
and forty-five from Rio. The sick were taken from
their beds, they were stripped of all their books .and
papers, and kept between decks like Negroes in a
slaver, till the ship's doctor declared they would all
die, and that the fever would spread to the crew.
Some were kept in prison in Lisbon for eighteen
years, till Pombal's death ; the others were turned
adrift in the Pope's dominions.

Misfortunes oppressed them. In Martinique, a great
Bank which had been established under their manage-
ment for the convenience of the commerce of their

Expulsion of Jesuits from South America. 193

settlements failed, and many persons were ruined.
The Order was sentenced to make good the losses.
A madman tried to stab Louis XV. of France, and
this, too, was supposed to have been contrived by
them, so that the French king also turned against them.
In Spain a popular tumult frightened the king,
Charles III., into supposing the Jesuits were con-
cerned in it, and he followed the example of his neigh-
bours in expelling them from all his dominions ; from
Mexico, Peru, Chili, and the Isles wherever he had
possessions, these missionary priests were driven out,
with not quite so much violence and cruelty as by
the Portuguese, but to the bitter grief of the poor
natives, whose best friends and guides they had been.
They counselled submission, and did all they could to
help them for the future; but in the year 1773 the
Pope was persuaded to suppress the Order altogether.

There were plans for educating and civilizing the
Indians without the aid of the Jesuits, but no one
would take the trouble to see these provisions properly
carried out, and the Indians were not willing to obey
the new comers. So the natives fell back gradually
into savage life, and the garden-like lands they had
cultivated fell back into being wildernesses. The
clergy, being very little looked after by the European

13

i94 Stories of American History.

church, grew more and more sluggish, selfish, and
vicious ; the settlers more lawless and indolent, ming-
ling with their religion gross superstition. In Spanish
South America, in particular, every kind of evil habit
prevailed ; and though the towns had wealthy and civi-
lized inhabitants, the country around became full of
wild, fierce, ruffianly riders, whose chief business was
to pursue, catch with lassos, and kill cattle, great herds
of which roamed at large.

CHAP. XXVI. — THE THIRTEEN
COLONIES.

1762 — 1766.

tHE peace which was signed at Fontainebleau in
1763, between England, France, and Spain, left
the northern continent of America in a very different
state from that in which it had been at the beginning
of the war. All the French possessions east of the
Mississippi were given up to England, except the city
and vicinity of New Orleans, which were assigned to
Spain ; all Canada and Acadia ; and nothing was left
to France but the right to fish on the shores of New-
foundland and in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, with the
little islets, St. Pierre and Miquelon, to shelter the
ships ; but no more than fifty soldiers were ever to be
on them, and there were to be no fortifications. The
French Canadians were to be left free to live as Roman
Catholics under English laws ; but no fishing vessel or
other from France was to come within fifteen leagues

196 Stories of American History.

of the shores of Cape Breton. In the West Indies,
France gave up the Isles of Tobago, Dominica,
St. Vincent, and Grenada ; but the English gave her
back Martinique, Guadeloupe, Marie Galante, and
Desirade.

To Spain was conceded, under the treaty, all
Louisiana west of the Mississippi, with an indefinite
boundary to the north ; and she had New Orleans, as
already noted, which is on the east bank of the
Mississippi. She gave up Florida to the English, in
exchange for Cuba, which was restored to her. She
gave up the right to fish for cod off Newfoundland ;
and she gave to the English permission to land in the
Bay of Honduras, to cut mahogany and log- wood, and
to build houses, warehouses, and quays, as long as they
built no forts. This peace put an end to the last
remains of buccaneering in the West Indies, and
established the bounds of the national languages
there.

The English had still to fight with the Indian allies
of the French. The Indians were much attached to
those bright, kindly men, and were told by the
Canadians that the King of France was only dead for
a while, but would come again. Pontiac, the chief of
the Ottawas, who is said to have led that tribe in the
battle in which Braddock fell on the Monongahela,

The Thirteen Colonies. 197

declared, " I am a Frenchman, and will die a French-
man." He sent messengers through the tribes, offering
them the tokens of war — a belt of red and black shell-
beads, called "wampum," and a tomahawk. All
accepted them, and it was agreed to unite and drive
the English from the Ohio, and the country along the
Lakes. Very cunning was Pontiac. He tried to
surprise the post of Detroit, on the strait between
Lakes Huron and Erie, by gaining admission to show
an Indian dance, with thirty or forty of his warriors,
who had tomahawks hidden under their blankets. A
woman, however, gave warning in time, and when the
dancers were admitted, they found the soldiers under
arms. At another fort, some hundred Ottawas played
at ball outside the walls, till the soldiers came out to
watch them. Then the ball was flung close to the
gate, and as the Indians rushed after it, each squaw
handed her husband his hatchet, and he fell upon his
man. Only twenty soldiers escaped. In the Ohio
Valley every fort except Pittsburg was taken ; more
than one hundred traders killed and scalped. The
Indians massacred women and children ; and five
hundred English families were forced to wander in the
woods. Pittsburg and Detroit held out through this
fearful five months, though Detroit was subjected to a
new thing in Indian warfare — a regular investment

198 Stories of American History.

and siege. Relief for the English arrived, and as
winter approached at length Pontiac could no longer
keep his wild warriors together. The French behaved
admirably through the difficulty. The Indians spared
their traders, and the French, whether official or private,
took no part, except to shield and protect prisoners,
and to use their influence to explain the treaty, and
persuade the Indians to submit. One of the French
officers, almost the last to leave his post, sent belts
and messages and pipes of peace to all the tribes,
telling them to bury the hatchet and make friends with
the English, for they would never see him more.
Pontiac said he accepted the peace which his French
Father had sent him, and submitted. He was killed
a year or two later, while in a fit of intoxication, by
an Illinois Indian.

The colonies which had gone through this war
called themselves the " Old Thirteen." They were —
New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Con-
necticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Vir-
ginia, North and South Carolina, and Georgia. The
first four of the colonies, with the district of Maine,
belonging to Massachusetts, made up New England.
James II. attempted to consolidate all the colonies
north of the Delaware ; and in 1686 Sir Edmund
Andros appeared in Boston as Governor of all New

The Thirteen Colonies. 199

England, including New York, and New Jersey as an
appanage of New York. After the accession of
William and Mary, the consolidation was no more
heard of; and, in the popular language of the United
States, New York is not included in New England.
Maine is now a State, and with Vermont, carved out of
the rival claims of New York and New Hampshire,
makes up the six New England States. The inhabi-
tants of this territory were chiefly English, and about
this time began to be called by the nickname of
Yankee, which is either the Dutch Yankin, the con-
traction of John, or else the Indian form of the
word English. In America the term is applied to
New Englanders only, though in England it is used
for citizens of all the States. Probably the Indians
use the same designation ; for an Indian chief a few
years since, who was conducted over the ships and
forts to reconcile him to submission, was overheard,
in his broken English, to curse the " Yangheese."
The New Englanders were mainly Independents or
Congregationalists, and had built for themselves solid
churches and schools. They had a University at
Cambridge, near Boston. Yale College, in Con-
necticut, was founded in 1701 ; and among its early
patrons was Berkeley, afterward Bishop of Cloyne.
The New Englanders were a hardy race, and had

200 Stories of American History.

many thoughtful, resolute men among them. They
had strict laws and observances, dreading such amuse-
ments as theatres, races, and balls; and they led a
hearty, wholesome country life, though laborious ;
their wives and daughters working at all farmhouse
arts and domestic manufactures. The nature of
their land taught them the thrifty habits for which
Yankees are proverbial. New Jersey, though settled
in part by " Friends " or Quakers, had a strong
New England character given to it by emigration.
Princeton College was founded by Presbyterians
in 1746.

Emigration is apt to run on lines of latitude. The
upper part of New York received thus a somewhat
Yankee tinge ; but the Dutch element, from the
beginning of the settlement, kept its hold, and modified
New England Puritanism. The Patroon system and
the better soil gave New York farmers larger holdings,
and their handsome country houses and farms employed
a limited number of Negro slaves, who, of course, led
easier lives than on a Spanish repartimiento. Slavery
existed, indeed, in all the colonies, though rather
tolerated than encouraged in the northern settlements.
The New York settlers never were so rigid in their
mode of life as their neighbours. They were Pro-
testant, the Dutch Church and its kindred Presbyterian

The Thirteen Colonies. 201

bodies having early possession of the ground ; but the
Established Church of England had an early footing.
Dutch manners prevailed, and the families, especially
in Albany, made the broad doorstep of the house —
stoop, they called it — a reception room in the evening
and a sitting place for the family, as they used to do
in Hamburgh. On New Year's Day the ladies received
all their male acquaintances ; and the custom still
lingers, though it is becoming evident that village
fashions are inconvenient in great cities.

Most of the colonists had fought with the French
and Indians, and they rather looked down upon their
neighbours in Pennsylvania, who had hung back.
Pennsylvania had her own peculiar embarrassments.
She had a. proprietary interest, a colonial, and a British
contending with each other, and the peace doctrines of
her founder were in the way of military measures.
Benjamin Franklin, Boston born, but Philadelphian by
adoption, printer, philosopher, man of science, and
politician, was active always in public matters. It is
said that he procured the passage of a bill through
the Assembly for the purchase of grain and hollow ware
— the grain being gunpowder, and the hollow ware
guns. The frontier settlements of the province had
received large accessions of settlers other than Quakers,
and these settlers, organized into military companies,

202 Stories of American History.

gave the first repulse to the savage foe in the Pontiac
war. In that war Pennsylvania was among the chief
sufferers, but the benevolence of the Friends, who
would not aid war, but who would relieve its victims,
restored comfort and prosperity.

The Virginians were more like country squires
living on their estates, except that instead of tenantry
they had swarms of Negroes, who worked their planta-
tions of tobacco and were their household servants ;
though they were not quite so plentiful as in the
Carolinas, where black men were much more numerous
than white. Among the whites in the last two colonies
there was an admixture of French Huguenot families.
The Virginians, among whom Washington was con-
spicuous, had borne themselves bravely in the French
and Indian wars, and all felt that they deserved honour
from the mother country. However, there was a
foolish narrow jealousy in the policy of those times,
and there was a fear of the colonies getting too strong
and powerful and taking away the English trade. And
far-seeing statesmen began to fear that the peace of
1763, by relieving the colonies from the outside pres-
sure of colonial and Indian wars, would increase the
difficulty of governing them according to the narrow
colonial policy.

The adherents of the Church of England, who were

The Thirteen Colonies. 203

numerous in the southern colonies, begged for an
English Bishop. They were refused, because it was
then supposed that a Bishop must be a wealthy,
powerful man, a member of the House of Lords, and
this England thought impolitic. So the American
parishes were held by clergymen ordained at home
and invited out to the colonies. No one could be
confirmed, and no church consecrated. It is curious
that money was so scarce that these clergy were paid
in tobacco to export instead of coin.

There were plans for uniting all the colonies under
the same government. At a Congress of Commis-
sioners appointed by the British Board of Trade to
treat with the Indians in 1754, Franklin was present
as one of the deputation from Pennsylvania. He
introduced a plan for a President - General to be
appointed by the crown with executive power, and a
council, chosen by the colonial legislatures. Here
was the germ of the future constitution of the United
States. But the project was difficult. The constitu-
tions and laws of the Provinces, not being alike, were
hard to reconcile, and there was an opposition made
at home lest by becoming one the colonies should
become too strong. The proposition was too demo-
cratic for the crown, and had too much royal
prerogative for the colonies. Another misfortune was

204 Stories of American History.

that, each government being small, it was too often
given to some poor hanger-on at court at home ; and
these governors, not always being men of honesty,
ability, or good sense, misrepresented the Americans to
the English, and the English to the Americans. Still
the colonists loved the old home, drank the health of
King George with all their might, and were ready to
fight to the death against any foreign enemy.

The war had been very costly, and as it was in their
defence, the Home Government felt it just that the
cost should be partly borne by the colonists, who had j
never been laid under any system of imperial taxation,
though they made grants to the royal exchequer from
loans and taxes raised by their own Assemblies. The
law in England had long been that wills, deeds, and
receipts should always have a government stamp to
make them valid; and in 1765 it was decided in Parlia-
ment to extend this Stamp Act to the colonies. But,
in the days of Edward I., the Commons of England
had established their claim to have no tax laid on them
unless their representatives consented to it in Parlia-
ment ; and the colonies in America considered that
unless they were allowed to send members to Parlia-
ment they ought not to be taxed. They resisted so
resolutely that the Stamp Act was the next year
repealed, but the main question was left undecided.

CHAP. XXVII.— THE AMERICAN
REVOLUTION.

1765-1776.

tHE Bill repealing the Stamp Act was accompanied
by another affirming the authority of Parliament
over the colonies in all cases whatsoever, and declaring
the opposite resolutions of the Colonial Assemblies
to be null and void. So the repeal settled nothing.
The question between England and the colonies was
still left open. The Stamp Act had brought the
discussion of these difficulties to a point. It had given
official force and expression to the claim that the
colonists, as Englishmen, ought not to contribute to
the revenue without their own consent, any more than
their kindred at home who sent members to the House
of Commons. And it had produced a Parliamentary
denial of that claim, but disbursed in the form of
Crown patronage. By the laws of trade, the Thirteen
Colonies were cut off from all the world but England.
Even trade with the British Islands was subjected to
duties which were almost prohibitory. Industry in

206 Stories of American History.

the colonies was repressed for the advantage of English
manufactures. Under such a system the colonists
were under a much more despotic authority than if
they had stayed at home.

It was felt that the time had come for making a
stand, and Virginia took the lead. In the Assembly
of that colony a young man named Patrick Henry
brought forward a series of resolutions affirming the
rights of the colonists as Englishmen. In the course
of the exciting debate Henry said, " Caesar had his
Brutus, Charles the First his Cromwell, and George

the Third " Cries of " Treason ! " interrupted him

and he ended with, " May profit by their example."
It was voted that taxation could only be fixed by the
General Assembly of a colony. The Assembly of
Massachusetts, approving this principle (as indeed did
all the colonies), invited their representatives to
assemble and unite in remonstrances. Nine sent
deputies to the Congress which met in New York, two
though not present assented, and thus eleven colonies
agreed in drawing up a " Declaration of Rights " and
a Petition. These were sent, the Petition to the King,
and the Declaration to the Parliament, in October,
1765. Some of the greatest statesmen, such as
William Pitt, afterward Lord Chatham, thought the
Americans in the right, and if their counsel had been

The American Revolution. 207

followed, means might have been found of keeping the
colonies free, yet still loyal to the crown. But there
were other advisers who believed the honour of the
crown concerned to put down all resistance. The
result was the repeal of the Stamp Act, but with the
aggravating accompaniment which left the questions
of taxation, of the army, of appointments to office, and
the laws of trade still open. In the mean time farther
provocation was given.

Boston was the foremost American town in showing
discontent with the Government. " Liberty Poles "
were set up, and frequent occasions taken for exhibit-
ing the spirit of resistance. The quartering of British
regular troops in the colonies was everywhere protested
against ; and in Boston there were perpetual quarrels
between the people and the soldiers, whom the mob
called " lobsters " and " bloody backs." These en-
counters were with clubs and stones, the soldiers not
carrying arms when not on duty. One of these dis-
turbances resulted in the affair popularly called the
" Boston Massacre." For two days there had been
rioting between parties of soldiers and the labourers in
a rope walk. On the evening of the second day a
sentinel was assaulted while on duty. Six men and
a sergeant were ordered for his protection, and the
captain of the company followed, in all, seven men.

208 Stories of American History.

The crowd, presuming on the English law that no
soldier may fire upon a crowd except under orders
from a civil magistrate, pressed upon the soldiers,
assailing them with taunts and missiles. Somebody
gave the command " Fire," and a volley was dis-
charged, killing three men and wounding five.
Warrants were instantly issued by justices of the
town — the soldiers were arrested and committed for
trial. The citizens demanded in town-meeting that
the garrison should be withdrawn, which was acceded
to, and it was removed to Castle Island. The seven
soldiers were tried, and all acquitted except two, who
received slight punishment for " manslaughter." John
Adams and Josiah Quincy, both names of note, and
among the most zealous of popular leaders, were
assigned as their counsel, and did their duty for their
clients. Of course this " massacre " was made much of,
and added to the excitement of discontent. While
the soldiers as individuals were exonerated, the
Government was held accountable.

Over the whole country the use of the taxed im-
ported articles was given up. The ladies took to
spinning and weaving, and said they would wear
sheep-skins rather than buy their goods of people who
insulted them. Non-importation agreements were
entered into, and merchants who declined to join the

The American Revolution. 209

agreement were placarded as objects of public scorn.
College boys graduated in homespun. This universal
resistance produced its effect. The obnoxious taxes
were removed on everything except tea. Commercial
intercourse was resumed, though tea was still contra-
band with the republicans. The duty on this was
continued, as the Stamp Act repeal was loaded with an
obnoxious rider, to assert the principle against which
the colonists contended, the right of Parliament to tax
the unrepresented colonies. To meet the non-impor-
tation agreement, a drawback or remission in England
of all duties was granted to the East India Company
on all teas which they would send to the colonies to
pay duty there. Consignees were appointed to receive
and dispose of the cargoes. Philadelphia led the way
in protesting. Boston followed, and added action to
her protest. Three tea-ships arriving at that port,
public meetings were held, and the popular leaders
harangued the people. The immediate sending away
of the tea was demanded. The consignees not being
able to comply, the ships were boarded at night by
men dressed up as Mohawk Indians, and the chests
were broken up and the tea emptied into the water.
The harbour was said to have become one great teapot,
for what was called the Boston Tea Party. At other
ports the cargoes of tea were sent back or destroyed.

210 Stories of American History.

In much indignation the Home Government ap-
pointed General Thomas Gage commander of the
forces in America, and commissioned him also as
Governor of Massachusetts, thus giving him in his
double capacity the legal right to fire upon the people,
and additional troops were ordered out to support him.
The port of Boston was closed by Act of Parliament
till the tea should be paid for, which, by the way, was
never done. The port was effectually blockaded ; no
vessels could come in and none go out, none which
were building could be launched from the stocks.
Even water carriage between wharf and wharf was for-
bidden ; the ferry service across the Charles River was
stopped, so that from Salem, the nearest port, goods
could not be obtained. The town of Boston was re-
duced to the last extremity, and all industries were para-
lyzed. The colonies vied with one another in liberality ;
but all supplies which came by sea had to be landed
at Marblehead, thirteen miles distant from Boston by
water, thirty miles by the circuitous land route.
British troops were as of old a continual provocation
in a city, the very boys of which were rebels. General
Gage adjourned the Legislature to Salem, which was
declared the seat of Government. The Salem people,
like those of other towns, declared they would not
profit by Boston's misfortune. The first thing the

The American Revolution. 211

Legislature did in June, 1 774, was to make such a reply
to the Governor's Message that he refused to hear it
through. The next was to recommend a General
Congress to meet in Philadelphia in September, and
resolutions were also passed recommending entire dis-
continuance of the use of British goods, and all articles
subject to Parliamentary duty. General Gage, finding
what was going on, sent his secretary to dissolve the
Assembly. But Samuel Adams — whom with John
Hancock, Joseph Warren, and others, Gage was in-
structed to seize as rebels — had locked the door of the
hall, and the secretary read the Governor's proclama-
tion on the steps outside. This was the last session
of the Legislature or General Court of Massachusetts
under British rule. Henceforth the people acted for
themselves, as did also the other colonies. The pro-
position for a Continental Congress, which met as
Massachusetts appointed, had already been proposed
in New York, and seconded in other places.

The colonists were determined to fight it out. A
year of troublous time passed without any serious
encounter. Boston held fast, and had the sympathy
of all the colonies. But in the spring of 1775, General
Gage, having discovered that military stores were
deposited at Concord in Massachusetts, sent a force of
eight hundred men to destroy them. The expedition

212 Stories of American History.

left Boston at midnight on the eighteenth, and was
intended to be secret. But the watchful colonists
detected the movement, and despatched messengers to
alarm the country side. Among these messengers
was an ardent, popular leader named Revere. " Paul
Revere's Ride " is the subject of a vigorous poem by
Longfellow. At Lexington the British found sixty or
seventy men drawn up on the village green. They
were ordered to disperse, and, hesitating, were fired
upon. Eight of these militia-men were killed, and
several wounded. They were dispersed, and the
British moved on toward Concord. Meanwhile, the
news had sped, and on their arrival they found the
greater part of the stores removed. Two cannon
were found and spiked, sixty barrels of flour were
stove, and a few hundred pounds of shot thrown into
a mill-pond. A bonfire was made of the liberty pole
and some gun-carriages. A skirmish took place
between the militia and the regulars, in which two
were killed and some wounded on each side. The
regulars, finding the country roused, retreated ; but the
retreat as far as Lexington was rather a rout, for
enemies beleagured them on all sides. At Lexington
they found about a thousand troops sent out to rein-
force them. Even thus strengthened, they were so
hunted and beset all the way back that they lost, in

The American Revolution. 213

killed and wounded, near three hundred men. The
loss of the colonists was ninety, of whom half were
killed. And thus, on the igth of April, 1775, began
the "War of Independence." On this day was fired
the gun which "echoed round the world."

The Continental Congress had become a perpetual
body, and assumed the responsibility of enlisting and
organizing an army, and appointing a commander-in-
chief. Meanwhile General Gage, threatened by the
concourse of militia gathered in the vicinity of the
town, and shutting him in, decided on occupying the
eminences which commanded the town. Bunker Hill
in Charlestown, near Boston, was one of these ; and
the Americans, finding this out in time, set forth
to prevent it. On the morning of June I7th, the
British ships in Boston Harbour found themselves con-
fronted with earthworks six feet high on Breed's Hill.
That was the point taken and fortified, as nearer
Boston. Twelve or fifteen hundred men, under Colonel
William Prescott, had thrown up the works during the
night. The ships opened a fire upon the works, and a
battery on a hill in Boston played upon them. The
Americans continued the labour of entrenching, their
colonel and other officers walking on the battlements
amid the fire to inspirit the soldiers. At one o'clock
the regulars landed in Charlestown, and undertook to

214 Stories of American History.

march up the hill. Twice they were repulsed with
fearful slaughter. The third time the advance was
made with less show of contempt for the Americans
than the first, and with more regard to military tactics.
The Americans having exhausted their ammunition
were forced to retreat. The exact time from the first
discharge of the musketry to the last was an hour and
a half. The Americans lost, in killed, wounded, and
missing, four hundred and fifty men ; the British, over
a thousand. The Americans withheld their fire till
their assailants were within destructive range, or, as it
was said, till " they could see the whites of their eyes."
The Americans lost one of their most promising officers,
Joseph Warren, a volunteer just appointed, but not
yet commissioned. On the British side, seventy com-
missioned officers were wounded and thirteen killed,
for they distinguished themselves by their courage in an
affair which cost General Gage his military reputation.
Charlestown was burned during the engagement ; but
the defeat of the Americans, after having shown so much
courage, was as useful as a victory would have been.

Franklin wrote to his English friends, " England has
lost her colonies." When George Washington heard
how the Americans had borne themselves, he said,
" The liberties of the country are safe." The Con-
tinental Congress had already unanimously elected him

The American Revolution. 215

Commander-in-chief of the army. On Monday, the
3rd of July, being then forty- three years old, he
assumed the command, standing under a great tree
in Cambridge, still known as the Washington Elm.
His men, though staunch and brave, were undisciplined.
The defence of Breed's Hill had been rather by agree-
ment of purpose than by discipline. There was
also a great want of powder, and a great need of tact
to conceal the deficiency, to reduce volunteers to a
sense of obedience, and to reconcile jealousies. Bunker
Hill remained in possession of the British. But
Dorchester Heights, the other commanding position,
was still unoccupied by either ; till, on the morning
of the 4th of March, 1776, the British in Boston
were surprised by seeing the Heights crowned by
fortifications thrown up in a night. The city could
not be held, nor could ships remain in the harbour,
under such conditions. The idea of an attack was
entertained, but abandoned ; and by an informal agree-
ment the British were allowed to evacuate the town
unmolested. This they did on Sunday the i7th.
About twelve hundred persons who held to their old
allegiance went with them. In many places there
were those who continued loyal to the British Crown,
and they mostly took refuge in Nova Scotia, whence
they hoped to return when the war was over.

216 Stories of American History.

Meanwhile, in the Continental Congress, steps had
been taken which showed that the contest was no
longer a struggle about taxation. The British deter-
mination was, on the other hand, declared to subdue
the rebellion at any cost. Congress, in February,
passed a resolution that the United Colonies had a
right to contract alliances with foreign powers, and
the ports were declared open to vessels of all nations,
Great Britain excepted, thus reversing the colonial
rule ; it was declared irreconcilable with reason and
good conscience for the people of the colonies to take
the oath of fealty to the British Crown, and necessary
that every exercise of authority under that Crown
should be suppressed ; and that adherence to the King
of Great Britain was treason against the colonies.
Meanwhile, a resolution that the colonies were, and of
right ought to be, free and independent, was under
consideration delayed by the lingering doubts of some
of the members as to the propriety of a step so positive,
though the leading spirits had come to the conclusion
that they must break altogether with the mother
country. The postponed resolution of Independence
was reported from a committee, of which Thomas
Jefferson was chairman, on the ist of July. On the
2nd it was passed. On the 3rd, the DECLARATION
explaining and vindicating the resolution was taken

The American Revolution. 217

up, debated and amended ; and on the 4th was passed.
In this paper the word Colonies is set aside for " Free
and Independent States" The sole authorship of this
paper is conceded to Thomas Jefferson. It was referred
to the " States," and accepted by all.

The Declaration was received by the people every-
where with demonstrations of approval. It came at
a propitious time. The evacuation of Boston, and a
repulse of the British sea and land forces at Charles-
ton, South Carolina, left the States free from the
presence of any royal army, though the British fleets
hovered on the coast. Generally the people were
orderly in their demonstrations, though " Tories," as
the loyal colonists were called, were in some places
insulted and roughly treated. In New York, a leaden
equestrian statue of George III. was thrown down,
and the lead cast into bullets. This statue had been
placed in the Bowling Green by the citizens of New
York themselves when the Stamp Act was repealed.
Since the Declaration of Independence the 4th of July
has been the great national holiday in the United
States.

On the first day of this year, 1776, Washington dis-
played at his headquarters, near Boston, what he
termed the " Union Flag." The field had thirteen
stripes ; the upper corner, the blended crosses of St.

218 Stories of American History.

George and St. Andrew. Congress adopted the flag,
with the change of thirteen stars for the crosses ; and it
remains the flag of the United States, except that for
every new state a star is added.

The French Canadians, who had been conquered
chiefly through the New Englanders, would have
nothing to do with them, though invited by Congress,
and thus Canada remained firm for the Home Govern-
ment ; and its loyalty was reinforced by refugees from
the States. But the French Government and states-
men, sullen under the humiliating treaty of 1 763, were
delighted at anything that could weaken England.
Other nations shared the jealousy of her power.
There were, moreover, enthusiastic youths who were
charmed at the thought of a battle for freedom. The
cause of America had able advocates in Europe in
the American commissioners who had been sent
over by Congress. Prominent among these was
Benjamin Franklin. The commissioners could not
even, at first, provide a passage for volunteers. The
Marquis de Lafayette, a young French nobleman,
twenty years of age, ran away from home to join
the Americans, for whom he fitted out a vessel at
his own cost. The French Government not only
forbade his departure, but despatched vessels with
orders to arrest him in the French islands, should he

The American Revolution. 219

touch there. He avoided his pursuers, and landed in
South Carolina in April, 1777 ; where his first act was
to present Governor Moultrie with clothing and mili-
tary accoutrements for one hundred men, as a token of
his appreciation of the gallant defence of Charleston,
when, in 1776, that port was attacked by Sir Peter
Parker with his fleet, co-operating with Sir Henry
Clinton. Several of the Poles, whose country had just
been divided between Russia, Austria, and Prussia, came
to fight in the cause of freedom ; and among them the
famous patriot Kosciusko, and Count Pulaski. De Kalb,
Steuben, and many more European officers, were volun-
teers ; so that Washington had at his side, including
his own countrymen, both enthusiasm and experience.
The discussion of the Stamp Act had developed the
purposes of the British Ministry, and the repeal did
not surrender them. The resolutions of the Assem-
blies had still their moral force. In addition to the
expenses of the late war, a standing army was pro-
posed for the colonies; its officers appointed by the
Crown, and the expenses of the army to come from
the British Treasury. The judges of the Courts were
to be appointed in England, as well as other officers,
and all were to be independent of colonial support;
the payment for these expenses being levied on the
colonies by taxation.

CHAP. XXVIII.
THE WAR OF INDEPENDENCE.

1776—1778.

tHE Americans had declared their independence.
But there was plenty of sharp fighting to come,
for bold and firm as they were, they had to learn to
meet disciplined troops, and to submit themselves to
discipline. It was an arduous work for Washington
to meet the exigencies of his position. His difficulties
could only be entrusted to his safest counsellors, and
many times could not be confided even to them.
Much of the burthen he had to bear alone, and only
subsequent revelations have brought out the full and
evenly balanced character of the " Father of his
country."

After his repulse at Charleston, Sir Peter Parker
sailed with his squadron to New York. Thither
General Washington had repaired after the relief of
Boston, and held the city. In no part of the country

The IVar of Independence. 221

had the cause of the Crown more supporters and
adherents, and there was a plot discovered, and averted,
to seize the American Commander-in-chief. The
British were encamped on Staten Island, in New
York Harbour, and their fleet was anchored in the
bay. The troops which had held Boston, together
with fresh arrivals from Europe of English and
Hessians, and the troops under Sir Henry Clinton,
made up the British force of upward of twenty
thousand men. About this time overtures were made
to the colonies for a reconciliation. But as they were
made informally, and Lord Howe, the bearer, would
not recognize the official character of those whom he
addressed ; and as the proposition was to pardon
rebellious subjects, not to treat with independent
States, it was not entertained. Had the offer come a
little earlier, or the Declaration of Independence been
a little later, the tender would have divided the
counsels of the Americans.

On the 22nd of August the British troops landed on
Long Island, about fourteen thousand strong, thence
to march to the ferry opposite New York. On the
3oth, Washington's forces, which had opposed their
progress, retreating before them, safely landed in the
city. The British followed two weeks later, and by
the end of September were in possession of the lower

222 Stories of American History.

part of Manhattan Island, on which the city of New
York stands. There was constant fighting, but no
general engagement. On the i6th of November the
last post held by the Americans surrendered, and
Washington retreated across the State of New Jersey.
On the 8th of December, still closely followed by the
British, he crossed the Delaware at Trenton, having
previously sent over his sick and wounded and stores.
He had previously seized or destroyed all boats above
or below, and thus cut off pursuit. This retreat
through the Jerseys ranks among the most masterly in
history, and would alone establish Washington's claim
to the character of a true general.

Washington established his headquarters at New-
town, Pennsylvania, nearly opposite Trenton, New
Jersey. From thence, in the early morning after
Christmas Day, he despatched a force of between two
and three thousand men, to surprise the Hessian force
stationed there in the midst of their festivities. It
was a complete success. The Hessian commander
Rahl was killed, about twenty men were killed or
wounded, and nearly a thousand taken prisoners.
With his prisoners, twelve hundred stand of arms, six
field pieces, and all the standards of the brigade,
Washington immediately returned across the Dela-
ware.

The U^ar of Independence. 223

On the 2 Qth of December Washington entered New
Jersey again, and from that time till July there were
various engagements, a battle at Princeton being most
noteworthy. By the ist of July the British forces
were all withdrawn from the State, and the march by
land to Philadelphia across New Jersey was abandoned.
Troops were embarked on the 23rd for the capture of
Philadelphia, and landed at Elk Creek on the Chesa-
peake on the 25th of August. On their march to
Philadelphia, they were opposed by Washington at a
ford on the Brandywine River. While the battle was
going on the British found another passage, and the
Americans were forced to retreat. In this engagement
the loss of the British was six hundred, and that of
the Americans nine hundred in killed and wounded.
Among the wounded was Lafayette. On the night of
the 2Oth of September an outpost of the American
army, under General Wayne, was surprised at Paoli,
and Wayne was compelled to retire with the loss of
three hundred men. Washington was unable to resist
the passage of the British over the Schuylkill River,
and on the 26th the British forces entered and occupied
Philadelphia. Congress had previously adjourned its
session to Baltimore, and thence to other places. From
Elk Creek to Philadelphia is about sixty miles ; and
the time occupied by the British army in its march

224 Stories of American History.

was thirty days. When Franklin, then in France,
heard that the British had " taken Philadelphia," he
said, that was not the way to state it — " Philadelphia
had taken the British."

The warlike stores of the Americans had been re-
moved before the entry of the British forces. Wash-
ington encamped at a point about twenty miles from
Philadelphia. The British established a chain of posts
above Philadelphia, from the Delaware to the Schuyl-
kill, the main encampment being at Germantown. On
the 4th of October Washington attempted a surprise.
The British pickets were driven in upon the main
body, and at first the attack seemed almost a victory.
But the steadiness of the trained British regiments, as
they rallied and were reinforced, compelled him to
retire. The loss on each side was heavy, about eight
hundred, but the returns are disputed. It has been
said of this battle, that the British at the beginning
were so nearly defeated as to learn respect for the
Americans ; and that the Americans were so nearly
routed at the end, as to learn the absolute need of
discipline.

Meanwhile stirring events were in progress at the
north. In June, 1776, General John Burgoyne led a
British force from Canada to invade the United States.
The Canadas had now become a good base for opera-

The IVar of Independence. 225

tions. Their adherence to Great Britain had been
confirmed by an invasion made by an American force
under Benedict Arnold and Richard Montgomery, in
the winter of 1 775-76. Chambly, St. John's, and Mon-
treal were taken, and Quebec attacked. Before the
latter place Montgomery fell. The invaders were
demoralized and retreated, relinquishing all they had
gained ; and the remainder of their force got back to
the United States. Montgomery's name figures in
the geography of the United States as the name of
counties and of towns ; and a monument is erected to
his memory in St. Paul's churchyard, New York, whither
his remains were removed nearly fifty years afterward.
Burgoyne's first step was to summon a council of the
dreaded Six Nations of Indians, a large body of whom
he took into the British service ; but he found these
wild allies did him more harm than good. They
brought in scalps as the first evidences of their loyalty;
and with all that Burgoyne could do he found it im-
possible to keep them in order in battle, or to hinder
them from savage deeds in the settlements ; all which
made the British name still more hated. He took
Ticonderoga, but soon fell into difficulties, having neg-
lected to keep open his communication with Canada.
His way led through difficult roads and marshy grounds,
over which he could carry no supplies. He sent a

15

226 Stories of American History.

large detachment to capture the stores of the Americans,
said to be at Bennington. The force was attacked by
General John Stark, who, it is said, called out to his
men : " There are the red-coats ! We must beat them,
or Sally Stark will be a widow ! " Mrs. Stark was not
a widow. The red-coats were beaten off. The battle
of Bennington took place on August i6th. The
Americans took four or five hundred prisoners, a
thousand stand of arms, and four pieces of artillery.
The British loss is stated at nearly two hundred in
killed and wounded, the Americans less than one
hundred. About the same time a British detachment
assaulted Fort Schuyler, the western American post in
New York, and were repulsed. The Indians ran
away, and the British commander was forced to retreat.
These wild allies were continually deserting, while
their barbarities led crowds of volunteers to join the
American army.

On the 1 3th of September Burgoyne crossed the
Hudson, about thirty-five miles above Albany. It
required six days to move ten miles, rebuilding bridges
and repairing roads. On the iQth Burgoyne reached
the camp of General Gates. It was laid out by
Kosciusko, the Polish general, and its site was almost
unassailable. After two days of fierce fighting, in
which the advantage was with the Americans, and

The War of Independence. 227

several days of skirmishing, Burgoyne was obliged to
fall back to Saratoga ; and there, on the 1 7th, he sur-
rendered. His supplies were intercepted, and his men
were starving. His retreat was cut off, and the
Americans were coming to the aid of Gates by batta-
lions. There was no place in Burgoyne's camp which
was not covered by the artillery of the Americans ; and
it is said that while the council of war was debating in
the general's tent a cannon ball swept across the table.
The plan of the campaign had been that General
Howe was to take Philadelphia, and march to the
north, to meet Burgoyne coming south. But Burgoyne
was defeated before Howe entered Philadelphia ; and
though Sir Henry Clinton tried to reach him from
New York, his hopes in that quarter failed. Burgoyne
had no choice but to capitulate. The Americans
suffered the troops to keep their personal baggage, and
return to England on condition of their never serving
again in America. The prisoners were nearly six
thousand ; the previous loss of men was over three
thousand ; and the arms, artillery, and camp equipage
were the property of the captors. Lady Harriet
Acland went through the whole of this dreadful cam-
paign in the English army, and when her husband was
wounded passed into the American camp to nurse him,
showing wonderful bravery and resolution throughout.

228 Stories of American History.

Though General Howe entered Philadelphia in
September, it was not till late in November that he
was able to open communication with the fleet on the
Delaware ; which river the Americans had obstructed
by forts and ships and sunken obstacles. The
American army went into winter quarters at Valley
Forge, where they suffered severely for want of
supplies and clothing. Even officers came often upon
parade wrapped in old blankets, and the feet of the
shoeless soldiers left blood stains in the snow. Never-
theless, they kept up such a show of strength, that
they were left unmolested by the British. In their
winter quarters in Philadelphia, with the countenance
of such inhabitants as were still loyal to the crown, the
winter passed in a round of festivities.

The battle of Saratoga was the turning point of the
war. It made the French think the colonists no
longer rebels, but people worth helping. Franklin,
who had been in France with two other commissioners
over a year without official recognition, now obtained
it, and in February a treaty of amity and commerce
was concluded between France and the United States.
This treaty was coupled with another of eventual
defensive alliance. In the following month Franklin
was received by the King. The other commissioners
wore the court dress ; the sturdy Franklin adhered to

The IVar of Independence.

229

his republican simplicity. He was the popular idol of
the Parisians ; and at his reception by the Academy
of France, he was addressed as the man who had
"wrenched the lightning from the clouds and the
sceptre from tyrants." Sick, perhaps, of their own
pomp and vanity, the Parisians were in a perfect fever
of admiration of Franklin's straightforward simplicity.

CHAP. XXIX.
THE WAR OF INDEPENDENCE.

1779—1781.

tHE eventual treaty between the United States
and France soon came in force. The French
ambassador in England announced to the British
Ministry, in March, 1778, that the United States were
in full possession of independence, that a treaty of
commerce and amity had been concluded, that the
King of France was determined to protect the lawful
commerce of his subjects, and had taken measures for
that purpose in concert with the United States. This
was regarded as establishing a state of war. The
British ambassador was recalled from Paris. The
British statesmen, in office and out, were divided.
The great Earl of Chatham, who had opposed the war,
was wakened to oppose what he deemed a dishonour-
able peace ; and when the Duke of Richmond

The War of Independence. 231

advocated the withdrawal of the British troops, the
Earl of Chatham, who had come down to the house,
aware of what was to be done, ill and broken, rose
and protested against yielding an inch of British
ground. In the midst of his speech he tottered and
fell back, in a fit of apoplexy, of which shortly after he
died.

In June, 1778, the British evacuated Philadelphia,
crossing over to New Jersey, and marching to New
York. The crossing of the State occupied a little
over two weeks, and Washington followed, harassing
the British. On this march occurred the battle of
Monmouth, one of the most severely contested during
the war. The British had the advantage during the
early part of the day, the Americans later. Both
armies remained on the field ; but during the night the
British retreated with such silence and skill, that their
disappearance was not known till daylight. During
this march, the British lost two thousand men, including
desertions. The retreat was inevitable, for a powerful
French fleet, under the Count D'Estaing, was already
on its passage. Had he found Howe in Philadelphia,
and his fleet in the Delaware, the position would have
been a serious one. D'Estaing arrived in July, and
undertook to co-operate with the Americans in the
siege of Newport, Rhode Island. Disputes arose

232 Stories of American History.

between the American officers of the army and the
commander of the French fleet. D'Estaing withdrew,
and the siege was raised.

There was much distrust of the French among the
Americans. Perhaps as citizens of the new republic,
they had not quite forgotten their traditional dislike
as British colonists often at war with their French
neighbours. Heated debates took place in Congress,
the undefined powers of a legislative body without an
executive head causing frequent disputes. Meanwhile,
in the progress of the war, savage things were done on
either side. The country was, in many districts,
demoralized. Marauders ranged themselves for
plunder and the purposes of hate under both flags.
An American, named John Butler, organized early in
the war a band of traitors, Indians, and vagabonds,
who dressed and painted like Indians, with which he
harried the borders. In July, 1778, he attacked the
settlement of Wyoming, Pennsylvania, with his band
of " Rangers," as they called themselves. The settlers
were overpowered, the Indians took nearly three
hundred scalps, and, having capitulated, the survivors —
men, women, and children — were permitted to fly,
though savage ferocity murdered many fugitives.
The houses were burned, and the settlement desolated.
All along the frontier, the Indians were incited to

The War of Independence. 233

attack the Americans, though some of the tribes
refused to attack, and even joined them.

In the spring of 1780, Charleston, South Carolina,
surrendered to Sir Henry Clinton, and the State was
assumed to be again under the Crown. But while
many were willing to submit, or obeyed under con-
straint, the spirit of resistance was still alive ; and
Generals Francis Marion and Thomas Sumter, the
former of whom was called the " Swamp Fox," crept
about in the woods and marshes annoying the British
out-posts, and attacking convoys and detachments.
These men were more than mere partisans, and their
names are historic. As the tide of success ebbed and
flowed, the British treated as deserters those among
their prisoners who had been forced previously into
the British service, or who had accepted submission,
or taken the oath of allegiance. All these things
maddened the south, and indicated the final defeat
of the British arms. Meanwhile, at sea, British trans-
ports and private ships were captured by American
privateers. Congress early in the war had both built
national vessels and authorized and commissioned
privateers. Among these privateers, the most noted
— a terror of the seas — was John Paul Jones. One
ship which he commanded was named, after Franklin's
" Poor Richard," almanack- maker, Bonhomme Richard.

234 Stories of American History.

Washington had to be extremely patient and
cautious, and to bear with many murmurs of those
who complained that he did not gain any great
victories, like Gates at Saratoga — forgetting that
Washington's policy in preventing General Howe
from reaching Philadelphia through New Jersey, and
in impeding his march from the Chesapeake, had made
Burgoyne's defeat possible. There were jealousies
too among the generals, but in only one case did it
rise to treachery. Benedict Arnold, a brave but fierce
and selfish man, was long a subject of distrust ; and, as
he claimed, of neglect. He had even been tried for
dishonesty. But his undisputed military talent pro-
cured for him the command of the fort at West Point,
on the Hudson River. It was a most important point,
commanding the approach to New York, then held by
the British army, and keeping open the communication
between New England and the west. Arnold opened
a correspondence with Sir Henry Clinton, who had
returned from Charleston to New York ; on the 23rd
of September Major John Andre, an English officer,
was stopped by three American scouts, as clad in
citizen's clothes he was riding towards New York.
His manner and replies aroused their suspicions, his
offer of a large ransom confirmed them. He was
searched, and concealed in his stockings were found a

The IVar of Independence. 235

plan of the fortifications at West Point, a memorial
from the engineer on the attack and defence of the
post, and returns of the garrison cannon and stores.
These were in Arnold's handwriting. Andre was
detained, but permitted to send a letter to Arnold, who
made his escape. Washington, returning from Con-
necticut, turned aside to examine the condition of the
works at West Point, and there first heard of Arnold's
treachery after his flight. The first duty was to pro-
vide for the safety of the post ; since the preparations
for the completion of the plot, including the capture of
Washington himself, were already in progress. On
the 29 th Andre was brought before a board of officers,
and unanimously adjudged a spy. The execution of
the sentence was delayed until the 2nd of October at
the request of Clinton that representations might be
made in behalf of the prisoner. The overtures were
for an exchange. The answer was that no one but
Arnold could be received in exchange for Andre.
This could not be, and Andre suffered. If the purpose
of a spy be to obtain damaging information, by covert
means, he had done it. Washington did not sit in the
board which tried him. His remains were taken home
to England, and buried in Westminster Abbey. He
was a youth of promise and much beloved. So also
was Nathan Hale, a graduate fresh from Yale college,

236 Stories of American History.

who was executed as a spy in 1776, having been found
within the British lines. In character and in standing
they were equals, and their sad fate was the inexorable
rule of war.

Troubles came thick and fast on the Americans in
the winter of 1780-81. There was neither pay nor
food to be had for the soldiers. The Pennsylvania
troops in their winter quarters in New Jersey revolted,
from sheer suffering ; but were won back to their
allegiance, and a large number discharged, as they
claimed was their right. Two British emissaries sent
from New York to corrupt them were hanged as spies.
The New Jersey troops followed the bad example ;
but it was deemed necessary to adopt sterner measures.
Their camp was surrounded by a detachment of loyal
troops ; three of the ringleaders were tried by drum-
head court-martial, of whom two were shot and the
other released.

Gates, who had been appointed to the command of
the American army in the south, had " changed his |
Northern laurels for Southern willows." In August,
1 780, he was routed by Cornwallis at Camden, South
Carolina. He was superseded by General Nathaniel
Greene. Greene was the son of a Quaker preacher in
Rhode Island. At the beginning of the Revolution
he renounced his Quaker principles, studied military

The IVar of Independence. 237

tactics, and commanded the Rhode Island troops who
joined Washington at Cambridge, which under his
drill and discipline were among the best troops in the
field. He deserved, gained, and kept the confidence
of Washington, was early promoted, and had distin-
guished himself in most of the leading battles in the
war. He worked in boyhood as a blacksmith, but
by diligence in study supplemented the little he had
learned in a common school. When Greene reached
his command in North Carolina with about four
hundred men, he found the skeleton of the Southern
army, without artillery, stores, or discipline. To re-
store the last required vigorous measures. The whole
country was suffering under the cruelty of the partisan
rangers, on both sides.

A detachment of Greene's army, under General
Daniel Morgan, encamped at a place called Cowpens
in South Carolina, was attacked by a British force
under General Tarleton, January I7th, 1781. The
rout of the attacking force was complete, so skilfully
were Morgan's men posted and led. The American
loss in killed and wounded was less than a hundred ;
the British, over three hundred, besides five hundred
prisoners, and a large amount of military stores. Not-
withstanding the victory, the Americans were com-
pelled to retreat before the superior force of Cornwallis.

238 Stories of American History.

So ill shod were they that the ground was tracked
with the blood from their wounded feet, the supply of
blankets was one to four men, and that of food scanty
and irregular. Greene halted at Guilford, North
Carolina, and there, on the I5th of March, was attacked
by Cornwallis. The British gained the victory, but
with such terrible loss that it did them as much harm
as a defeat.

The pursuers now became the pursued. The
royalists were dispirited, and the undecided rallied to
the support of the Americans. Harassed by Greene,
Cornwallis reached Wilmington, a seaport of North
Carolina, with the wreck of his army, where a body of
troops sent from Charleston awaited him. Greene left
Cornwallis in Wilmington, and pursued his course to
the south, now successful, now defeated ; till, by the
month of September, the British held in three States —
the Carolinas and Georgia — only the three seaports,
Wilmington, Charlestown, and Savannah. In Charles-
ton the British commander completed the disaffection
to the crown by the execution on the gallows of Isaac
Hayne, a man widely known and esteemed. After
the fall of Charleston, Hayne had accepted British
protection. When the British were shut up and could
no longer protect him, he joined his countrymen, was
taken in arms, and hanged.

The IVar of Independence. 239

In the beginning of 1781, Arnold, now holding a
royal commission, was sent to Virginia with sixteen
hundred men. Lafayette had made a visit to France,
and had been received at home with high honours,
being followed by the most hearty official commen-
dation of the American Government. He returned to
America ; not, as at first, a fugitive, but with high
military rank and reputation. To Lafayette, Wash-
ington entrusted the checking of Arnold. That
traitor's stay was only long enough to burn Richmond
and indulge in a brief exhibition of ferocity. Corn-
wallis arrived upon the scene, and, having no desire
for his company, ordered him to New York. He
obtained the command of an expedition to Connecti-
cut, where he burned New London, took a small
fort by storm, massacred more than half the garrison
after the surrender, killing the commander with his
own hand. And that is the last to be said of Benedict
Arnold, except that the British officers, to their
honour, never would receive him as a comrade. In
St. John's, New Brunswick, where he tried to reside,
he was hung in effigy. A British officer whom he
challenged stood unhurt before Arnold's fire, and
declined to return it. " I leave you" he said, " for
the hangman."

Cornwallis, reinforced, made war on the Virginians.

240 Stories of American History.

Lafayette, reinforced, contended with him. Virginia
became the last battlefield. The French contingent,
under Rochambeau, marched in by land. Cornwallis
was driven to Yorktown, on the Chesapeake, but the
French fleet under De Grasse appeared in the bay,
and cut off both the chances of relief and of escape.
Washington, who had sent troops forward, himself
hurried to join the army, spending one night at his own
home, Mount Vernon. On the Qth of October, 1781,
the siege batteries against Yorktown being completed,
Washington himself applied the match to the first
gun. The two allied armies pressed the siege. Once
the British forces attempted a sally, but in vain. As
a last resort, it was proposed to cross the York River
and push to the north, but that was abandoned ; and
to save useless bloodshed Cornwallis capitulated on
the 1 9th, with seven thousand men as prisoners of
war. The ships and naval stores were given to the
French. The loss of the British during the siege was
about five hundred ; that of the Americans, three
hundred men. The investing armies numbered six-
teen thousand men, seven thousand of whom were
French. So closed the serious work of the war,
though Indian raids and partisan difficulties continued
on the western borders somewhat longer.

The news came to Philadelphia at night. It is said

The War of Independence.

241

that the officer who brought the intelligence was taken
up for knocking too loud at the door of the residence
of the president of Congress. In those days the
watchmen called the hours, and the city was waked
with the cry, " Past twelve o'clock, and Cornwallis is
taken ! " An aged door-keeper of Congress is said
to have died of joy.

16

CHAP. XXX.— THE AMERICAN
REPUBLIC.

1782—1794.

fHE war in the United States was virtually closed
by the battle of Yorktown. But the hostilities
between Great Britain and the allies of the United
States continued. Spain and Holland had been drawn
into the quarrel, and their paths over the seas were
no longer safe. The fleets and cruisers of the allied
nations were to be found throughout the Atlantic.
The vessels bringing home sugar and other West
India products had to be guarded by ships of war;
and the settlements themselves were in danger, in
spite of the great victories won by Admiral Rodney.
The Spaniards took back the peninsula of Florida,
which had not joined the thirteen colonies. The
French had taken St. Vincent, St. Lucie, and Tobago,
and several of the lesser islands. Demerara was first
taken by the Dutch, and then retaken by the English.

The American Republic. 243

Count De Grasse, with his fleet, after the great
success in Chesapeake Bay, sailed to the south, mean-
ing to make a grand descent on the two chief English
islands, Jamaica and Barbadoes, but Admirals Rodney
and Hood were there to watch him. They could not
save St. Kitts from being taken, but on the 5th of
April 1782, they fought a tremendous battle, which
did immense damage to the French fleet. Captain
Cornwallis had the satisfaction of avenging his
brother's disasters by taking the Ville de Paris, De
Grasse's flagship, with the Count himself on board,
and thirty-six chests of treasure, intended to pay the
French troops which were to have taken Jamaica.
The French lost nine ships, the English none ; the
French lost nearly three thousand men, the English
not two hundred and fifty. Thus England could finish
the war with a victory, and peace was made.

The rights of England to the United States were
given up, and their boundary traced where they
touched on Canada and Nova Scotia. In the West
Indies the islands seized on either side were given up,
except that the French kept Tobago. The Dutch
and English likewise exchanged conquests, but the
Spaniards kept Florida. The French were at that
time attempting much in Guiana, or Cayenne, as they
called it, and settlements of intelligent people were

244 Stories of American History.

made there. The wonderful natural history of the
place began to excite interest in Europe, and so far as
so unhealthy a region could prosper, it flourished greatly.
Sir Guy Carleton had been sent out to America in
1782 to supersede Sir Henry Clinton, and he bore the
olive branch. Congress declined to treat except in
conjunction with France, and in Paris ; but Sir Guy's
conciliatory manners, and his putting a stop to the
border cruelties of " rangers " and Indians, had a great
and salutary effect. Peace already existed when, on
November 3oth, 1782, the provisional treaty between
Great Britain and the United States was signed in
Paris. The final treaty, which awaited the negotia-
tions between England and the continental powers,
was not signed till nearly a year later. But the pro-
visional or preliminary treaty was accepted as conclu-
sive. Early in April official intelligence was received
of the signing of the treaty, and on the iQth of that
month George Washington, in general orders, an-
nounced the cessation of hostilities. He directed the
chaplains with the several brigades to render thanks,
and he did not forget to remind the army that the day
was the anniversary of the battle of Lexington. " On
such a happy day, which is the harbinger of peace,
a day which completes the eighth year of the war, it
would be ingratitude not to rejoice."

The American Republic. 245

In November the British army left New York, a
city of which they had held possession ever since,
seven years before, Washington had retreated before
them. The embarkation was leisurely made, permit-
ting Americans who still adhered to the crown to take
with them their effects. On the 25th an American
force marched in and took formal possession. " Evac-
uation Day " is still kept as a holiday. But bitterness
against the " Tories " — as British loyalists were called
— wore away. A stipulation of the treaty was that
the loyalists should not be harassed with confiscation.
The laws against them were generally repealed.
Many returned to their homes ; and this lenity pre-
vented the embarrassment of the new nation by a
disaffected faction.

The United States had hitherto continued under the
" Articles of Confederation " adopted during the war ;
but it was soon discovered that a confederation with-
out a head, and a legislature without an executive,
would not serve. In 1787 a convention was called,
under the sanction of Congress, but independent of
it, to revise the articles. The convention met in
Philadelphia, and Washington was elected its presi-
ding officer. Eleven States sent delegates. After
four months' consultation a Constitution was put forth,
to be in force when nine States should have ratified

246 Stories of American History.

it. By the month of July, 1788, ten States had
accepted, and the others presently came in. At the
first session of the new Congress of the United States,
ten amendments of the Constitution were proposed and
afterward adopted by the States. Two more were
added at intervals of several years. The thirteenth,
fourteenth, and fifteenth, relating to the altered con-
dition of the slaves, and the adjustment of the country
after the war of the rebellion, were adopted in 1865
and 1870.

Each State has a separate government of its own,
but for the management of national matters there are
a national Legislature, or Congress, and a national
Executive. The choice of a President is made by
electors chosen by the people. The term of office is
four years, but the incumbent may be re-elected.
Congress consists of two Houses — representatives
elected by voters in their districts, and a Senate chosen
by the Legislatures of the States. The representa-
tive's term is two years, the senator's six. Each State
has two senators, and one is elected every three years,
making the Senate a perpetual body, over which the
Vice- President of the United States presides. The
Vice- President, chosen at the same time as the Presi-
dent, must be taken from a different State. To
prevent jealousy it was decided that the President

The American Republic. 247

should live and Congress sit in a place belonging to no
State, and a tract of country was ceded by Maryland
and Virginia. It is called the district of Columbia,
and includes the cities of Washington, Georgetown,
and Alexandria, the former being the seat of govern-
ment. It was laid out by Washington himself in 1791,
as the " Federal City." In 1800, after the death of
Washington, Congress held its first session there, and
the city took the name which it now bears. The
district has now nearly two hundred thousand inhabi-
tants, exclusive of Government officials. The inhabi-
tants proper have no vote in national affairs, and the
office-holders who retain their State citizenship must
go home to vote.

All men are pronounced in the Declaration of Inde-
pendence " free and equal," but did this mean black
men as well as white ? The Constitution left the
question to the several States. But the words slave
and slavery are not used in the original instrument.
In the north, Negroes had been inherited from the
old English and Dutch settlers, and their masters
were rather ashamed of possessing them. In Massa-
chusetts, a black woman named Elizabeth Freeman,
commonly called Mum Bet, had, as early as 1766,
appealed to the courts of law, and with Theodore
Sedgwick as her advocate, obtained her freedom and

248 Stories of American History.

compensation for twenty-one years' service. She spent
the rest of her life as a hired servant in the Sedgwick
family. Many Negroes followed her example and were
declared free. In 1777 a vessel from Jamaica, with
several slaves on board, was brought into Boston as
a prize. Her cargo was advertised, including the
Negroes, but the authorities interfered, and the Negroes
were released. In 1783 a master was found guilty of
assault for whipping a slave. The Bill of Rights,
adopted in the State Constitution in 1780, was
appealed to on the trial, and the decision of the court
put an end to slavery in Massachusetts. In 1787 one
of the last acts of the Congress of the Confederation
was to pass an ordinance by which slavery was for-
bidden in the territory north-west of the Ohio River.
In 1820 the degree of latitude 36° 30' was established as
the line north of which slavery could not be established.
Massachusetts was the only State, at the close of the
Revolutionary war, in which slavery was illegal. Six
more of the northern States immediately or gradually
abolished slavery, but the six southern States clung to
the system.

Washington was the first President of the United
States. He was chosen in 1789, receiving the votes
of all the electors, and he lived in considerable state.
" His Excellency " was tacitly adopted as the title of

The American Republic. 249

the President ; but Congress refused to authorize any
other title than " President of the United States,"
which has always been the official designation. Wash-
ington was inaugurated President on the 3Oth of April,
in New York, which was then the seat of government.
His journey from Mount Vernon to New York was
a continued triumphal progress. He landed amid
salvos of artillery, and the hearty cheers of thousands.
A carriage was prepared for him, but he preferred to
walk to his lodgings. The streets through which he
passed, attended by a long civil and military train,
were decorated with flowers, banners, and all other
possible tokens of welcome. On the day of the
inauguration he was drawn by a single pair of horses,
in a chariot prepared for the ceremony, on the panels
of which were emblazoned the arms of the United
States. Washington Irving, his biographer, refers to
four and six horses with servants and outriders in rich
liveries, with which the first President of the Republic
sometimes appeared in New York. Such style was
not unusual in the colonies before the Revolution.
Washington was passionately fond of that noble
animal man's best brute friend, the horse. The Re-
volutionary war, in the hands of its leaders, was not
the destructive work of a mob, and old society customs
were maintained. At Washington's levees, to which

250 Stories of American History.

every one came in full dress, he wore a black velvet
coat, with a white satin waistcoat, silver buckles at his
knees, and his hair powdered and gathered into a bag.

During Washington's administration, three more
States were added to the Union. Vermont, the Green
Mountain State, was separated from New York.
Kentucky (the Indian word for the Long River), the
wild western part of Virginia, grew to a population
large enough to become a State, though there was so
much fighting with the Indians that it was called " the
dark and bloody ground." Among its oldest towns is
Lexington. The settlers were laying out the place in
1775, when the news of the battle of Lexington
reached them in the wilderness, and they took the
name for their new town. Tennessee was cut off from
Carolina ; and thus one free State and two slave States
were begun.

All forms of religion were free ; none had any help
from the State, none any advantage over the other. In
the procession at Philadelphia, in honour of the new
Constitution, the Hebrew Rabbi walked between two
ministers of different Christian denominations. But the
Episcopal Church was at a great disadvantage ; nearly
all its places of worship had been closed during the
war. Many of its ministers and missionaries, especially
those who were English born, felt compelled by their

The American Republic. 251

ordination vows to adhere to the crown. Most of
them retired quietly. But the Rev. Mr. Boucher, of
Annapolis, in Maryland, preached obedience to the
utmost. He was told that he would be punished if he
went on reading the prayer for the King. His answer
was from his pulpit, on which he had laid a brace of
pistols. He took for his text Nehemiah's defiance of
his enemies (vi. 10, n), and his sermon ended with:
" As long as I live will I, with Zadok the priest, and
Nathan the prophet, proclaim, ' God save the King ! '"
His property was confiscated, and he was driven back
to England. The Episcopal Church shared in the
enmity against England. Even in Virginia, where it
had been supported by the State, that protection had
been withdrawn. Yet George Washington was a
Churchman, and William White, an Episcopalian, was
the first Chaplain of the Continental Congress in 1777.
After the war the Episcopal Church could no longer
look to England for clergymen, and there were no
Bishops in America to ordain them. Under existing
laws no English Bishop could consecrate unless the
candidate would take the oath of supremacy. The
Scottish bishops, not being thus bound, consecrated
Samuel Seabury, the first American Bishop, at Aber-
deen, on the izj-thof November, 1784. On the 4th of
February, 1787, Parliament having passed a per-

252 Stories of American History.

missory Act, Bishop White, of Pennsylvania, and
Provoost, of New York, were consecrated in Lambeth
Chapel, the two Archbishops of England, and three
others, uniting in the office of consecration. Bishop
Madison, of Virginia, was consecrated at the same
place, on September 19, 1790. In September, 1792,
the first consecration of a Bishop in the United States
took place; that of Bishop Claggett, for Maryland. In
1789, a Prayer-book, much resembling the English one,
was set forth, and thus began the " Protestant Epis-
copal Church in the United States of America." Each
diocese elects its own Bishop, subject to the approval of
the others ; and each enacts its own canons, in a conven-
tion of its clergy and elected laity ; and each parish
chooses its own rector. The diocesan canons must be
in harmony with the canons of the General Convention.
That body meets triennially, and is composed of clerical
and lay deputies chosen by the several dioceses, with
the bishops who, holding their seats ex officio, are a
perpetual body. The House of Bishops is presided
over by their senior, and sits with closed doors ; while
the debates in the House of Delegates are open. It
may be noted that in the Act of Parliament authorising
the consecration of American bishops, there was a
proviso that no clergyman of the American Church
should officiate in England. This restriction was

The American Republic. 253

removed in 1840. Whether it had been enforced
before, or not, Bishop Doane, of New Jersey, was the
first American Bishop to officiate in England. He
preached at the consecration of the parish church in
Leeds, in 1841.

In Virginia, and the Carolinas, and Georgia, were
the most Episcopalians ; and in the Carolinas there was
a considerable Huguenot element. Pennsylvania was
still Quaker, modified by Presbyterians and Episco-
palians. In New York the Dutch Church had been
firmly planted, but the Episcopal Church had many
and influential adherents, as it had also in New Jersey.
New England was Congregational, or Independent,
with an abiding leaven of Puritanism ; the Baptists
being in church organization Congregational. The
Presbyterians were influential, wherever they took hold ;
and the Methodists were a rising body, their ministers
having found adherents almost as soon in America as
in England. Louisiana remained Roman Catholic.
Maryland, though settled under the auspices of a
Roman Catholic proprietary, gave Protestants equal
rights, for her charter required it. There were all
sorts and varieties of sects ; and the recoil from the
free-thinking of France introduced in America the
modern " revival of religion" — a revival of zeal without
persecution — a religious and salutary contagion.

CHAP. XXXI.— THE REVOLUTION IN
HAITI.

1791—1803.

fHE French had been very prosperous in the West
India isles, especially in their half of the large and
fertile one of Hispaniola, or St. Domingo. There, as
in all the other Indian isles, the population consisted of
whites, who, if born there, were called Creoles ; of black
slaves ; and of a coloured race, the offspring of the other
two, who were called Mulattoes. Mahogany, satin-
wood, and other valuable timber, grew in the forests ;
cotton, coffee, and sugar in the plantations ; and the
Creoles, both there and in Martinique, were very rich
and prosperous, and, in general, were not bad masters
to their slaves.

In Europe, however, the French revolution had

begun. The success of the American revolution, and

the sympathy with republicanism which the aid of

France in the War of Independence had created, had

J

The Revolution in Haiti. 255

set the ideas of liberty at work. In the National
Assembly the affairs of the colonies were taken up.
In 1790 it was decreed that each colony, by its assem-
blies freely elected, should express its wishes in regard
to a national constitution. This opened the fearful
war of races. The Mulattoes, though not slaves, were
not recognized as citizens. The Creoles claimed the
exclusive right to vote, the Mulattoes insisted that
they had an equal right to the suffrage and to represen-
tation. In 1791 the French Assembly issued a decree
in favour of the Mulattoes, conferring equality on all
free persons of colour. The Creoles, utterly shocked
at this decision, had organized an Assembly of their
own, and trodden the tricoloured cockade under foot.

While the Creoles and Mulattoes were contending, a
fearful catastrophe impended over them. The Negro
slaves were not considered in the matter, and were
regarded as too ignorant to enter into the question.
But soon reports came that the slaves were everywhere
rising in arms ; and white people came hurrying into
Cape Town, having scarcely escaped being murdered
by their servants. All the women and children whom
the ships could carry away were put on board, and all
the Creoles took up arms to defend themselves. In
the meantime the slaves moved about in the open
country, gathering in numbers wherever they went,

256 Stories of American History.

burning and plundering the places where they had
worked, and massacring whole families of the French.
There were striking exceptions. The slaves of Count
Lopinot rallied round him in a body, and at last came
away with him to the British island of Trinidad, where
he obtained a grant of waste land, and made a new
home with them. Another Negro saved his master's
two little ones, of five and three years old, took them
to Carolina, and there toiled hard himself to maintain
them, and give them a good education. In spite of
such instances of attachment, in two months' time two
thousand whites were slain, one hundred and eighty
sugar plantations, and nine hundred of coffee and indigo
were ruined, and one thousand families were brought
to poverty. The whites were everywhere driven into
the cities, and there besieged. No less than ten
thousand blacks perished in these attacks, but they
still remained in force in the plains.

In 1791, commissioners arrived at Cape Town from
France to endeavour to re-establish order. A general
amnesty was proclaimed. The basis of the adjust-
ment proposed to leave the internal affairs of the
colony to its own Legislature. This was in effect re-
voking the former decrees. But the planters abso-
lutely refused any concessions whatever, even to the
Mulattoes, and demanded the unconditional submission

The Revolution in Haiti. 257

of the slaves. Of course this made the coloured people
desperate. The Mulattoes now sided with the
Negroes, and the war became more horrible than ever,
the whites treating the blacks like wild beasts, and
the Negroes retaliating with the most horrid barbari-
ties. The blacks had now an organized force of forty
thousand men, under Francois Dominique Toussaint,
who was surnamed L'Ouverture. He was a truly
great man, able as a general, competent as an orga-
nizer, and humane as a soldier, repressing the violence
of his followers. He was a born slave, but did not
join the insurgents till he had secured the escape of
the agent of the estate and his family, from whom he
had received kind treatment.

In Europe things scarcely less barbarous were hap-
pening. The National Convention had succeeded the
Assembly, and the frightful guillotine was in action.
The Republic had been proclaimed, and Louis XVI.
had been executed, January 21, 1793. The Jacobins
classed the hapless planters of Haiti with the enemies
of the Republic; and, irritated at them for not having
submitted to the measures proposed, the Convention
sent out a new commission after revoking the powers
which had been conferred on the Legislature of the
island. A quarrel arose between the sailors of the
French fleet at Cape Town and the Mulatto population;

17

258 Stories of American History.

French politics entered into the disturbance, royalists
and Jacobins, whites and Mulattoes made the streets
run with blood, and the Negroes from outside the town
rushed in ; and in slaughter and desolation Cape Town
was reduced to ashes. Immediately upon this event
the French commissioners published a decree proclaim-
ing freedom to all blacks who should enrol themselves
under the banner of the French Republic. Toussaint
with his troops passed into the service of the French,
and Negro slavery was abolished for ever.

And now appeared the British upon the scene.
England and the French Republic were at war, and
Sir John Jervis, having captured Guadaloupe, Mar-
tinique, and most of the other French islands, arrived
at Port au Prince, and espoused the cause of the
planters against the Negroes. He occupied Port au
Prince, and commenced a systematic warfare for the
reduction of the island. Toussaint, however, at the
head of the French troops and the Negro forces, aided
by the yellow fever, the worst enemy of the English,
pressed the invaders back, and they were forced to
leave the island and its deadly fever to the manage-
ment of Toussaint.

A frightful war now broke out between the Mulat-
toes and Negroes, which ended in the defeat of the
former, their murder by thousands, and their expulsion

The Revolution in Haiti. 259

from Haiti. The Spanish end had been ceded to
France by Spain, and Toussaint, who held his
appointment still as an officer of the French Republic,
was acknowledged in the Spanish colony ; and in 1 800
his authority was admitted through the whole island.
He sent an envoy to Napoleon, now First Consul,
who returned with a decree from Napoleon, confirming
Toussaint in his command as General-in-chief, and
taking Haiti under the shield of the last French con-
stitution. In a proclamation the First Consul called
on the " brave blacks to remember that France alone
had recognized their freedom." The leading chiefs of
the island met and drew up a constitution. They
conferred on Toussaint unlimited power, under the
title of President and Governor for life, with the right
to name his successor. This constitution was sent to
Paris, with a letter to Napoleon beginning with the
words, " The First of the Blacks to the First of the
Whites,"

The " First of the Whites " did not quite like this.
Peace was made in 1801 between England and France.
The French islands were restored to France. The
first use Napoleon made of the peace with England
was to send out a great fleet and army under his
brother-in-law, General Le Clerc, to reduce Guada-
loupe and Haiti. In Guadaloupe the same scenes

260 Stories of American History.

had been enacted as in Haiti. The Mulattoes had
risen against the Creoles, and the Negroes against
both, and while the factions were at war the French
arrived. The Mulattoes, in terror of the Negroes,
joined the French, and the old state of things, in-
cluding slavery, was restored. Warned by these
things, Toussaint prepared to resist, and with Henri
Christophe, his able lieutenant, kept up a guerilla war-
fare. Both sides grew wearied of the contest, and the
French succeeded in detaching, by a separate treaty,
Toussaint's principal officers, who accepted rank and
pay in the French service ; but Toussaint himself
disdained the bribe, and retired to his farm on the
faith of a treaty. The yellow fever now broke out
among the French, and Le Clerc, anxious to complete
his secret instructions to seize and transport the black
leaders, betrayed Toussaint by an invitation to a
personal interview. The black First Consul fell into
the trap, was seized and sent in chains to France,
where he was taken to the Temple Prison. He
appealed to Napoleon, but he was pitiless ; and, more
cruelly than if he had caused him to be shot, he sent
this child of the tropics to the castle of Joux, in the
coldest part of the Jura. He was shut in a damp cell,
with only straw for his bed, and scanty food ; and there,
in the winter of 1803, he was found dead in the straw.

The Revohition in Haiti. 261

Maddened by the restoration of slavery in Guada-
loupe, the insurgents rose again in Haiti. The black
chiefs who had gone over to the French revolted
again. On the renewal of the war between England
and France in 1803, tne blacks were supplied with
arms by the British cruisers. The yellow fever was
the terrible ally of the blacks (whom it never attacks),
and General Le Clerc was one of its victims. The
remains of the French troops made their escape. The
English cruisers made havoc of their fleet, which was
almost completely destroyed, and of a force of thirty-
five thousand men sent out under Le Clerc, scarce
seven returned to France. Dessalines, one of Tous-
saint's generals, was crowned emperor in 1804, and
attacked and killed by Christophe in 1806. Chris-
tophe was proclaimed as Henry I. of Haiti in the
same year, and thus was the old Indian name resumed.
Christophe, in his turn, was conquered by a Mulatto
chief named Boyer, and killed himself rather than be
made prisoner. Boyer united the whole island under
one government in 1821; but in 1843 the Negroes
rose in insurrection and forced him to flee the island.
After a struggle, a Negro named Soulouque had himself
proclaimed emperor, and was chiefly distinguished for
a fearful massacre of the Mulattoes. In 1858 he was
forced to abdicate. The island was divided into two

262 Stories of American History.

republics, by no means friendly, and so remains.
Santo Domingo, largest in area, is least in population.
The prevailing religion is Roman Catholic ; but Haiti
has also a Protestant Bishop, coloured, a missionary of
the Episcopal Church in the United States.

Thus upon the first place in America where slavery
was introduced, and at a time when its sordid results
were most profitable, first fell the disastrous conse-
quences. Except in Haiti and Guadaloupe, the
Negroes did not rise ; and the French kept Cayenne
as a place to which the proscribed who escaped the
guillotine in Paris could be transported to die in the
swamps. Among the historical personages connected
with these events was Josephine Rose Tascher de la
Pagerie. She was born in Martinique, and was early
taken to France to marry the Viscount Beauharnais.
She returned to Martinique to attend her sick mother,
but when these troubles took place, she made her
escape to France. There, in 1794, her husband was
guillotined, and Josephine herself was among the pro-
scribed. She barely escaped, to become the wife of
Napoleon Bonaparte. The sharp, quick suffering of
the guillotine might have been less than the lengthened
torture of the repudiated wife.

CHAP. XXXII.— SPANISH AMERICA.

1806—1808.

two hundred years Spain had quietly pos-
&£& sessed her American colonies, which reached
from California on the north, down to Paraguay in the
south, embracing in name all the southern continent
west of the famous papal line of demarcation.

These colonies were managed by a Board at home
called the Council of the Indies, at which the king was
supposed to preside. The Council appointed Vice-
roys to Mexico and Peru. All the northern provinces
were under Mexico, the southern under Peru ; and
the viceroys were like kings, living in very great
splendour, and .with a nobility sometimes descended
from the old Aztecs and Peruvians, with whom the
Spaniards had intermarried. Everything was in the
power of the Council of the Indies. Even the Pope
could only act on the American Church through this
Council, and it appointed the archbishops and bishops.

264 Stories of American History.

All notion had been lost in Spain of ruling her
dependencies for their good. All that was thought of
was how to get as much out of them as possible.
The gold, silver, and quicksilver mines belonged to the
crown, and were wrought for the king's benefit. To-
bacco was grown and sold only by Government in
Cuba and the other islands. Licenses had to be bought
for growing sugar, coffee, cocoa, and indigo. Flax and
hemp might not be grown at all, because the colonists
were to buy their clothes from the mother country.
No trade with any foreign country was allowed ; no
foreign vessels could find shelter in the ports ; and such
articles as Spain could not supply were only per-
mitted to be brought in by merchants after paying a
huge price for a license. Even in Spain, no ports but
Seville and Cadiz might trade with the New World,
and there were very heavy taxes for this privilege.

All this was bad enough in itself, but it was made
worse by the Council's habit of selling every office to
the highest bidder. Out of fifty Mexican viceroys
only one had been born in the country, and all offices
were so entirely given to the Spaniards that it was
hardly possible for the Creoles to obtain justice on any
suit ; while in common life, they were violently and
hardly treated by these officials and the soldiers.

The Church was in a dreadful state. It had been

Spanish America. 265

richly endowed, and the people accepted whatever was
taught them. The bishops, however, being appointed,
as we have seen, by the Council for money, were
seldom faithful. They let the parish clergy be igno-
rant, careless, and vicious ; and of course the people
were worse, and added thereto horrible murderous
ferocity, especially where, as in Mexico and La Plata,
the Spanish blood had been mixed with the native,
and preserved the bad qualities of both. There was
superstition enough in Spain, but in America it was
grosser still. Shrines of images said to work miracles
were set up, and the worship paid to them could be
called nothing but idolatry. The Council of the
Indies bought Indulgences from Rome wholesale,
and sold them in America at their own price. Such
a state of things could only be kept up by ignorance
on the part of the people, and the Inquisition was in
full force, prohibiting all learning more modern than
the Reformation, and seizing all books that could open
people's minds. There was scarcely any occupation
for those who were not forced by slavery to work,
except gambling in various forms, especially on
fighting cocks and horse-races. There were perpetual
quarrels, which the knife or the pistol was generally
used to settle.

Never had a trust been more misused than that

266 Stories of American History.

which the Spanish kings sincerely believed had been
committed to them by the dispensation of Heaven.
Could it be without effect that the English colonies, on
provocation that was a mere trifle compared with such
oppression, had broken from the mother country ?
The very few who were aware of the fact began to be
stirred. First of all awoke Francisco de Miranda, a
youth of good family in Caraccas, a seaport town in
Venezuela, and an officer in the army at that place.
When only twenty years old he had set out on a
journey on foot through the whole of Spanish South
America. In 1783 he visited the United States, and
contrived to get into correspondence with Washington
and Lafayette, whom he made his models. Thence
he went to Europe, and began again his travels on
foot, and visited most of the countries in Europe,
especially Spain, which he found in such a rotten state
of decay that he was the more determined to break
from it. On his return to South America he talked
so much of the wrongs his country had suffered, that
he was accused of revolutionary intentions, and to
avoid being arrested he escaped to the West Indian
Islands, and thence to England. He visited Russia,
where the Empress Catherine wanted him to enter her
service, but he preferred joining his friend Lafayette
in France, which was in the midst of the Revolution.

Spanish America. 267

A command in the French army was given him, but
he was unsuccessful, and was twice before the Revo-
lutionary tribunal. Escaping with his life he repaired
to England, and tried to interest Mr. Pitt in the
freedom of South America. Spain and Portugal had
been forced to ally themselves with France, and thus
were reckoned the enemies of England. This cut
their colonies off from much intercourse with home,
for no fleet could stand against the British, and almost
all the islands had been seized by the British navy.

In 1806 Admiral Sir Home Popham and General
Beresford, without orders from home, crossed from the
Cape of Good Hope, and seized Buenos Ayres, on the
Rio de la Plata. Thence they sent home a million of
dollars, and announced that the land of gold was
found. But the Guachos, a fierce race of half-savage
herdsmen, who drove the cattle of the plains in des-
perate rides on their wild horses, rallied under Liniers,
a French officer, crossed the river in a fog, and
attacked Beresford in Buenos Ayres. There was a
terrible battle from house to house, ending in all the
English in the town being made prisoners, though
Admiral Popham continued to blockade the river.
Reinforcements were sent out to him, but the Spanish
colonists defeated them, and recovered their city.
This affair is regarded as important, since it showed

268 Stories of American History.

the colonists that they could contend with a European
force ; and planted the germs of courage for the future
revolution.

Miranda, finding that Mr. Pitt would not help him,
came to the United States in 1806. The relations
between the States and Spain were by no means
friendly. The purchase of Louisiana from the French
had caused disputes about the boundary of Florida.
President Jefferson's government was no doubt in
sympathy with Miranda, and so was popular opinion,
but no open government aid or recognition was given
him. He made preparations, with a show of secrecy,
for an expedition to Caraccas ; and, while the expe-
dition was fitting out in New York, resided some time
in Washington. He bought, or chartered, a ship called
the Leander, with the aid of numerous ardent young
men who called themselves " sympathizers," and en-
listed as volunteers two or three hundred men. With
these he sailed for St. Domingo, where he obtained
two smaller vessels as transports. The Spanish
governor had notice, and sent out a ship of war, which
captured the transports, with some sixty men on board.
The Leander escaped to Trinidad, and the English
captains there undertook to protect Miranda's landing
in Venezuela. He took possession of two or three
towns on the coast. But it was yet in vain ; the

Spanish America. 269

Spanish force was too strong, and the indolent minds
of the Creoles were not yet sufficiently stirred to make
them rise to join Miranda, so that he was forced to
return to Trinidad, and the expedition was broken up.
Meanwhile, the promoters of the enterprise were pro-
secuted in the United States, to avoid compromising
the government with Spain. They were, however,
acquitted.

CHAP. XXXIIL— THE REVOLT IN SPANISH
AMERICA.

1807 — 1813.

[APOLEON had entirely cowed the King of
Spain, Charles IV., who made no objection
when, in 1807, a proposal was made to him to divide
Portugal with Spain. The reigning Queen of Portugal,
Maria I., was insane, and her son Joao (John VI.),
who ruled in her name, made no resistance to the
invaders, but shipped his mother and all his family off
for Brazil, and set up a court at Rio Janeiro.

Next, on pretence of settling a family quarrel,
Napoleon invited the King of Spain and his son to
Bayonne, and kept them there, in captivity, while he
gave their throne to his brother Joseph. Neither the
Spaniards nor Portuguese would submit to this mon-
strous injustice ; and the English, coming to their aid,
carried on the Peninsular War against the French ;
while a junta, or committee, at Seville represented the
Spanish Government.

The Revolt in Spanish America. 271

The battle of Trafalgar had so crippled the French
fleet that Napoleon's whole power was on land.
Thus the English mastered all the islands belonging
to France or its allies. In Cuba a Cortes, or council,
swore to preserve the colony for the true Spanish
king, Charles IV. In Martinique the Negroes tried
to make a rising, like that in Haiti ; but French and
English joined to prevent such horrors, and it, with
the other French islands, was held by England. So
also were the Dutch isles, together with French and
Dutch Guiana, Holland having been by this time
absorbed by France.

The Spanish-American colonies acted in diverse
manners. None would have any concern with
Bonaparte, but in each of them there was one party,
chiefly of Spanish officials, who held by the old
country, and another of Creoles, who thought this the
time for breaking loose. Only in Peru, as early as in
1 806, an officer tried to raise the people ; but no one
would attend to him, and he was put to death at Cuzco,
declaring that no one who was not in office knew
the wickedness of the Spanish Government towards
those under it, and that a reckoning must follow.

In Mexico the national party called on the governor,
Don Jose Ituregarry, to call an Assembly ; but the
Spanish officials prevented this by throwing him into

272 Stories of American History.

prison, under charge of wanting to become a king.
They carried on the government against the increasing
disaffection for two years, but there was a bitter hatred
growing up against the name of Spaniard, and a fellow
feeling between the Indians, Mulattoes, and Creoles
was growing stronger.

The outbreak came at last, in 1810, begun by the
Curate of Dolores, Miguel Hidalgo — a little, thin white-
haired man. He and his people surprised the Spanish
officials, and burned their houses, and the villagers
around began to join them. They took several small
towns, and wherever they found a Spanish house they
plundered and destroyed it, often murdering the family.
They gathered numbers as they went on, till sixty
thousand had come together, and marched upon the
city of Mexico.

The viceroy, Don Francisco Venegas, sent for a
famous image of the Blessed Virgin called Nuestra
Senora de los Ramedios, and having had it placed in
the cathedral, went thither in full uniform, placed his
staff in Our Lady's lap, and besought her to take com-
mand of the city. The tidings had such an effect on
the devoutly superstitious insurgents that they turned
aside to their hills without firing a shot. The troops
followed, and twice defeated them. Hidalgo was cap-
tured while trying to go to procure supplies from the

The Revolt in Spanish America. 273

United States, and was shot July 27th, 1811 ; but the
wild peasantry continued to keep up an outlaw warfare
from their refuge in the forests.

Miranda, in that same year, 1810, landed again in
Venezuela, hoping to stir the people. He gained an
important assistant in Don Simon Bolivar, a man of
good birth at Caraccas, who had been educated in
Madrid, and had travelled through Europe. There
he married a Spanish lady, who died of yellow fever
immediately upon her arrival at his native home. He
visited the United States after the death of his wife,
and was so struck with their institutions that he joined
Miranda with heart and soul. A Junta, or committee
of government, was summoned, in which all the pro-
vinces under the Spanish Captain- General were repre-
sented. This Junta began issuing its decrees in the
name of the King of Spain, who was held captive by
Napoleon ; but the Spanish colonial officials, declining
to join in what was a revolutionary movement, were
thrown into prison. An appeal was made by Bolivar
to England ; but England had enough to do in aiding
Spain to get clear of the Bonapartes, and declined to
interfere, especially as Spain, represented by her juntas,
was the ally of England. Blanco White, an able man,
half Spanish, half English, published in London a
Spanish journal, in which he pleaded the example of

18

274 Stories of American History.

the American revolution to show that it was vain to
suppose the old severe yoke could ever be reimposed.
But the Cortes in Spain were furious, and it was de-
termined to force the old system on the settlements.

Upon this, on the i5th of July, 1811, Venezuela
declared itself independent, and the war began with the
Spaniards who held by the mother country, commanded
by General Monteverde. In the midst, on the 26th
of March, 1812, Maundy Thursday, there was a
most frightful earthquake, which almost destroyed the
town of Caraccas, and killed twenty thousand people,
besides those who died of hunger and misery after-
wards. The people took this as a token of the wrath
of heaven, and lost heart. Bolivar was in command
of the citadel of Puerto Cabello. The fortress was
given up by treachery, and he had to surrender.
Miranda also was forced to yield, and contrary to
promise was treated as a prisoner, and sent to Spain,
where he died in the dungeons of the Inquisition.
Bolivar would have had the same fate, but he had
timely warning and fled to Cura^oa.

In the south, Prince John of Portugal had laid claim
to Buenos Ayres, but in vain. The Viceroy Cistieros
kept him out, but could not maintain the Spanish
power. His secretary, Mariano Moreno, became the
leading spirit of a Junta, which, in May, 1810, made a

The Revolt in Spanish America. 275

declaration of independence. Monte Video would not
join it, and the whole country fell into a dire state of
utter confusion and lawlessness.

Things went on in the same fashion in Chili on the
west coast. There were no nobles there, but there
had been much less mixture of the Spaniards and
Indians. The colonists were chiefly Biscayan moun-
taineers, and as the climate is temperate, they had not
lost their vigour and energy. The Indians were
civilized and intelligent, and the Spanish system never
was felt so severely on the west as on the east coast ;
so that but for the fall of the kingdom at home, there
might have been no revolt. In April, 1811, however,
independence was declared, a Junta appointed at
Santiago, and a young man named Juan Jose Carrera
made General.

But Peru had never revolted, and troops came from
thence, who though twice defeated by Carrera, reduced
Chili to obedience in 1813. Thus, it may be con-
venient to remember, that in 1810-11, there were four
declarations of independence — in Mexico, Caraccas,
Buenos Ayres, and Santiago, the chief cities of all the
Spanish possessions except Cuba and Peru ; and that,
in two years, all the republicans had been defeated and
reduced, except those in the city of Buenos Ayres,
and wanderers everywhere in the hills and plains.

CHAP. XXXIV.— THE LAKE WAR.

1812 — 1814.

tHE two great men to whom the United States
owed most, lived to see the nation prosperous.
Franklin lived to be eighty-four, and died in 1790.
The French revolutionary leader said of him that " he
was the sage whom two worlds claim as their own."
He died while Washington was President. After his
second election, having served eight years, the good
general refused to be elected a third time. He retired
to Mount Vernon, where he died, full of years and
honours, in 1 799. As Congress declared, he was
" first in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of
his countrymen." The centennial of his birthday,
February 22, 1832, was duly honoured by the nation,
and the day is still observed as a holiday. To him
John Adams and Thomas Jefferson succeeded ; and it
is worthy of note that these two great men died on
the 4th of July, 1826, within a few hours of each other.

The Lake IVar. 277

Both were members of the committee which reported
the Declaration of Independence, fifty years before.

Two chief inventions secured the power of America.
Eli Whitney, a Massachusetts schoolmaster in Georgia,
seeing the trouble and loss of time in separating the
cotton seeds from the wool, invented a machine called
a gin, which made the process so cheap and easy, that
Carolina and Georgia could send out cotton to all the
world. But this made the slaves who cultivated it so
valuable, that there was less chance than ever of their
being set free in the South.

In 1 807, too, Robert Fulton, of Pennsylvania, launched
his first steamboat on the Hudson, and although for a
long time steam was only used for short distances, it
did much to make the large country of distant States
communicate more readily within itself.

During the great struggle that England had made
with France, each of the two powers had forbidden
neutral nations to trade with the other, and though the
United States did not get concerned in the quarrel,
their ships were seized by the English if they traded
with the French, and by the French if they traded
with the English. Moreover, the English men of war
claimed the right of searching all American vessels, and
pressing into their own service any Englishman whom
they found sailing under another flag. As it was not

278 Stories of American History.

always easy to tell an Englishman from an American,
and the captains were not particular, it was said that
full a thousand Americans had been forced to fight in
the British navy. Quarrels could not but arise, and at
last, in 1812, when James Madison was President, war
was declared between the mother and the daughter
countries.

The Americans went from Detroit, in Michigan, to
attack Maiden in Canada, accomplished nothing and
returned. They were followed by the English General
Brock, and the American commander surrendered.
The English then occupied the post of Detroit, and
indeed the whole territory. This was in July, 1812.
In October of the same year, a force of a thousand
men crossed from New York, to attack Kingston in
Canada. This battle is known in history as that of
Lundy's Lane. After hard fighting the victory fell
into the hands of the English. In this affair General
Brock was killed, and the loss on both sides was terrible.

In the month of August, 1812, occurred the first
important success of the American navy. The frigate
Constitution captured the Guerriere after an action so
sharp, though short, that the prize was burned. But
the most remarkable fight was in 1813, between the
English Shannon, a thirty-eight gun ship, and the
Chesapeake, an American with the same number of

The Lake War. 279

guns, but much better " found " as sailors say with the
newest improvements. The Chesapeake had an old
quarrel with England. Vessels of war, as well as
military regiments, have their traditions. As long
before as 1807 an English ship, the Leopard, had
claimed the right to search the Chesapeake for deserters,
and on a refusal had fired, killing four men and
wounding sixteen. The Chesapeake was unprepared.
The commander indignantly hauled down his colours,
and offered his vessel a prize to the English. But the
English commander refused to accept a surrender
which would have been the opening of war. He
boarded the Chesapeake and took from her crew four
men. Three of them proved to be Americans, the
fourth was hanged. The British Government dis-
avowed the admiral's orders, under which the
Leopard had acted, recalled the admiral, and returned
two of the three Americans, the other having died.
But the affair added to the irritation; and the rela-
tions of the two countries grew more and more un-
pleasant, while the war party in America grew in
strength from the popular excitement, until hostilities
resulted. When the Shannon, which had taken and
destroyed twenty-five prizes, came and lay off Boston
Harbour, waiting for a ship to come out, and Captain
Broke sent in a written challenge to the American

280 Stories of American History.

fleet, Captain Lawrence, in the Chesapeake, sailed out
to fight a sort of sea duel. It was a fierce and
desperate engagement. Lawrence fell mortally
wounded, crying out " Don't give up the ship ! " The
ship was taken, though Broke was severely wounded.
Captain Lawrence died five days after the battle, and
was buried by his captors with military honours.

The dying words of Lawrence became a naval
motto. A brig built by the Americans on Lake Erie
was called after him, and on her signal flag were
embroidered the words of the dying captain. The
Lawrence was the flagship of Lieutenant Perry, who
commanded a squadron of nine vessels, carrying from
twenty guns to one only. Opposed to him was the
English squadron of six vessels, and it is hard to com-
pare the relative strength ; but it is safe to say that
the men on each side behaved gallantly. Perry's ship
was shattered, and he was forced to go to another in
an open boat. But he won the victory, and he had
the honour of being the only man to whom an entire
British squadron ever surrendered.

Following the engagement on Lake Erie came, in
October, the " Battle of the Thames." The Thames
is a river of Canada, nearly opposite Detroit in Michi-
gan. General William Henry Harrison, Governor of
Michigan, and afterward President of the United

The Lake l¥ar. 281

States, seeking to recover his territory, invaded
Canada. With the aid of Perry's fleet, as transports,
he landed his troops, met General Proctor, and de-
feated him. In this battle Tecumseh was slain. Pre-
viously to the breaking out of the hostilities between
England and America, this famous chieftain was
making war upon the United States upon his own
account, and was defeated by General Harrison at
Tippecanoe. He joined the British cause, and it is
supposed that it was by the hand of Colonel R. M.
Johnson that the brave Indian fell. The remote con-
sequence of this battle was that Colonel Johnson
became Vice-President of the United States in 1837,
and Harrison President in 1841. Harrison died in
one month after his inauguration. The rallying cry
in the election of Johnson and of Harrison included
their military services. Detroit was evacuated by the
British upon the approach of Harrison. An expedition
of the Americans against Montreal, in this same year,
was a humiliating failure.

Admiral Cochrane, with an English fleet, having
on board General Ross and four thousand men,
entered the Chesapeake in August, 1814. They
landed, unopposed, at a point about fifty miles from
Washington, and met their first repulse at Bladens-
burg, on the Potomac, where an American force of

282 Stories of American History.

about one thousand regulars and five thousand militia
awaited them, hoping to save the city of Washington.
It was a hard fight, and there was much loss on both
sides ; but at last the Americans were forced back,
and were obliged to leave Washington to its fate.
General Ross burned the President's house and the
Capitol, with many valuable papers and records. It
was an ungenerous deed, but the English had not yet
got over their bitterness of feeling, and still viewed
the Americans as successful rebels. The English
troops, on the night of the day after their entry into
Washington, silently evacuated the city, leaving their
camp-fires burning, and, reaching the point where they
had landed, re-embarked. Their severely wounded
were left in Washington.

On the 1 3th of September the British forces landed
at North Point, on the Patapsco River, about fourteen
miles from Baltimore. In a skirmish General Ross
was killed. The Americans retreated, but formed
again. A second and sharper encounter took place,
but as Baltimore was approached the siege of the city
seemed impossible, and was given up. The fort
guarding the approach to Baltimore by water was
bombarded by the fleet, without making any serious
impression upon it, though the fire was kept up for
twenty-four hours. Francis Scott Key, an American

The Lake War. 283

lawyer and poet, who had gone on board one of the
English vessels, was detained through the bombard-
ment, and composed during the night the famous
American lyric, " The Star Spangled Banner." An
attempt was made during the night of the I4th to
land troops from barges, but it was beaten off. The
commander received a mortal wound, and in the
desolate retreat slowly bled to death, as he was borne
away. The attack on Baltimore was abandoned, and
the English fleet withdrew from the Chesapeake.

On the lakes the struggle still continued, whence
this is sometimes called the Lake War. There was a
battle on Lake Champlain, in which the Americans
gained a complete victory, and this prevented Sir
George Prevost from invading the States. The war
on the Atlantic coast continued, and many seaports,
north and south, were attacked or laid under contri-
bution. In Florida the English took possession of
Pensacola, which was still Spanish, and made it a
military and naval station. Thence they attacked
Fort Boyer, in Alabama, but were driven off. General
Andrew Jackson marched upon Pensacola, for this
breach of neutrality, and entered the place without
difficulty. The English blew up the forts they had
occupied, and sailed away.

Then the English made an attempt against New

i

284 Stories of American History.

Orleans, in the hope that the half- French inhabitants
might like the American Republic no better than the
Canadians did. But the Louisianians disliked the
English name ; and the volunteers and militia from
Tennessee, Kentucky, aided them in resistance.
General Andrew Jackson, in command of the Ameri-
can forces, was vigilant and active. There were
several days of sharp fighting on the banks of the
Mississippi. On the 8th of January, 1815, the
decisive battle took place. General Packenham, the
leader of the English forces, was killed in an attack
upon Jackson's entrenchment, and the English army
retreated with immense loss. New Orleans was
saved, and the 8th of January became a national
holiday. The title of Hero of New Orleans was
made the rallying cry for Jackson, and in 1829 he
took his seat as President of the United States.

In these days of telegraphs it is hard to realize that
this battle was fought fifteen days after a treaty of
peace was signed at Ghent. Of the numbers engaged
in the battle there are contradictory accounts. The
invading force is stated at seven thousand. The
Americans are said to have numbered twelve thou-
sand. But many of them were without arms, and
employed in digging trenches and throwing up forti-
fications, and the actual number engaged was but a

The Lake War. 285

fraction of the force. They had the advantage of
position, and the comparative loss of the two armies
— two thousand on the side of the English, and about
four hundred on the American — shows how great this
advantage was. War has never been renewed be-
tween England and America, though controversies
have occurred. The two nations were taught mutual
respect.

CHAP. XXXV.— INDEPENDENCE OF LA
PLATA AND VENEZUELA.

1812—1820.

1812 almost all the revolted colonies of Spain

*

had been reduced ; but in another year they
were up in arms again. On the Rio de la Plata,
Monte Video held out for Spain, Buenos Ayres for
independence, till, near the end of 1812, the former
place was taken. Five or six thousand loyalists gave
up their arms, and the countries on the river were free
to carry on their quarrels and their lawless habits after
their own fashion. As La Plata means silver, they
took the name of the Argentine Republic, consisting of
thirteen provinces ; and they succeeded in defeating all
Spanish attempts to reconquer them, so as to get their
independence acknowledged in 1817.

Bolivar had come back to Venezuela in 1812. The
insurrection in that quarter had never been quite
extinguished, but was maintained in New Granada by

Independence of La Plata and Venezuela. 287

a youth of twenty-two, Jose Antonio Paez. When
seventeen, he had been sent by his uncle, the parish
priest of Azanac, to carry a large sum of money to
another curate. He was mounted on a mule, and
armed with an old sword and pistol. The lad was
foolish enough to tell his business at the inn where he
dined, and was in consequence pursued by two robbers,
who demanded his money or his life. He shot one
man, and a pistol bursting wounded the other in the
face, then rushing on them with his sword, he put them
to flight. But justice was so uncertain that he feared
revenge, and durst not return home. So he betook
himself to the Llanos, or huge flat plains, where the
country is one vast tract of grass, roamed over by large
herds of wild horses. The only occupation of the
inhabitants is herding them, catching and branding,
and sometimes selling them. Paez hired himself out
at one of these horse farms, under a Negro overseer,
who made him do the most dangerous tasks, undergo
terrible hardships in the heat of the plains, and end
the day in such servile work as bringing water and
washing his Negro master's feet.

In 1 8 10 Paez became a soldier in the patriot army,
but was made prisoner. Once he escaped being shot,
by the mere chance of having borrowed a hat which
caused him to be mistaken for an officer, and re-

288 Stories of American History.

nianded. A night or two after, a sudden alarm made
the Spanish army break up their camp, and leave their
prisoners, so that Paez escaped. The story rose that
he had been delivered by an army of the ghosts of his
friends, who frightened away the Spaniards.

After this, Paez, with a small body of horsemen,
resolved to try to win the Llanos, thinking that if he
could prevent the Spaniards from getting horses from
thence, the cause would be gained. He was just the
man to gain the affections of the Llaneros, having lived
their life, and grown perfect in training the wildest
horse, hunting down the fiercest bull, and killing the
crocodile in his own river. After gaining a victory
over General Don Rafael Lopez, he succeeded in
driving him out, and the wild Llaneros gladly flocked
to fight under such a leader. He had the pleasure of
having the old Negro foreman brought to him as a
prisoner, and treated him kindly, only now and then
teasing him by calling out in his voice : "Jose Antonio !
bring water for my feet ! " on which the old man would
reply, " Boy, boy, you have not forgotten your tricks ! "

Mercy, however, was not common. The Spanish
general, Monteverde, barbarously punished the rebels ;
and Bolivar put forth a proclamation of " War to the
Death ! " after which all prisoners were killed on both
sides. Beginning with only five hundred men, Bolivar

Independence of La Plata and Venezuela. 289

drove Monte verde out of city after city in Venezuela,
increasing his army at every step ; defeated Monteverde
at Lasto-guanes, and took Caraccas, where, in 1814, a
convention of officers proclaimed Simon Bolivar Dic-
tator of their new republic.

But the royalists rallied against him, and as, in the
year 1814, Napoleon was overthrown, and Ferdinand
VII. returned to the throne of Spain, troops were sent
to recover the colonies. General Morillo, with an
immense army, and quantities of artillery, arrived to
reduce Venezuela to obedience. Bolivar was obliged
to flee to Jamaica once more, and Morillo began to
exercise cruel vengeance on Venezuela and New
Granada.

Numerous families fled to the Llanos, and were
received by Paez. Their hardships were terrible.
There was nothing to eat but the flesh of the wild
cattle, nothing to wear but their hides, no shoes, no
hats, no shelter, continual rains, and rivers overflowing.
The refugees said they courted danger, to escape their
miserable life. However, having caught and tamed
enough wild horses to mount everybody, Paez chose
one thousand of his best men, and two thousand white
horses, because these were said to be the best
swimmers ; and, each rider leading a spare horse, he
crossed the River Apure in time of flood, fell on the city

290 Stories of American History.

of Barenas when no enemy was dreamt of, drove out
the Spaniards, and brought back the horses, laden with
all that his camp of wanderers required. Afterwards
he gained the city of Achaguas, and, in a battle on the
River Apure, defeated and killed General Lopez, and
established himself in that province.

General Morillo, who had come out from Spain, was
an able captain, but he fancied the insurgents a mere
band of semi-savages. He defeated Bolivar at Ocu-
mare in 1816, and another patriot shortly after; and,
in January, 1817, niarched upon Paez. The battle of
Las Margaritas had convinced Morillo, as he wrote,
that these men were not " a small gang of cowards."
Fourteen times did Paez charge the infantry of Morillo
with his wild horsemen, setting the dry grass of the
Llanos on fire, so that if the Spaniards had not reached
a spot previously burnt, they would have had no stand-
ing ground. At last they retreated, and Bolivar soon
after returning, the insurgents began harassing the
royalists in all the country of the Orinoco.

Defeats befel the patriots again, and nothing but the
perseverance of Bolivar could have carried them
through. The two generals joined forces on the
Apure, where Morillo had a large flotilla of gunboats ;
and the wonderful cavalry of Paez did what probably
never happened before in the history of the world —

Independence of La Plata and Venezuela. 291

captured these boats. Fifty mounted lancers, without
saddles, dashed into the river, and swam up to them,
assisted by their good horses, and captured them all.
Morillo then retreated, and the next spring, 1819, lost
another battle at Angostura.

A Congress was there held, and Venezuela and New
Granada agreed to unite in a republic to be called
Columbia. They had one more great battle to fight
with General Torre, who had succeeded in the com-
mand, Morillo having returned to Spain. The place
was Carabobo. Bolivar commanded the foot, Paez
the horse, and they were assisted by fifteen hundred
British volunteers. The Spaniards had nine thousand
men, but were totally routed. The battle took place in
June, 1820. Two months later Bolivar entered Carac-
cas in triumph, and a constitution was formed for
Columbia on the model of that of the United States,
Bolivar becoming President, and Santander, who had
fought under him, Vice-president.

In Brazil, Joao VI. had become actual King of
Portugal, by his mother's death in 1816. But he
remained in Brazil until 1820, when a great disturbance
broke out at Lisbon, and he was forced to return to
Spain, leaving his son Pedro in America, as Viceroy.

CHAP. XXXVI.— INSURRECTION IN
MEXICO.

1812 — 1820.

tHE insurrection in Mexico had not been ex-
tinguished by Hidalgo's death. In fact, a land
like this, full of mountain passes, was very hard to
conquer, and the inhabitants were ready, all over the
country, to live a bandit life. General Rayon, who
took the command on Hidalgo's death, called a Junta,
which offered to acknowledge Ferdinand VII., if he
would come out and reign in Mexico, as the Portuguese
sovereigns were doing in Brazil. But Ferdinand was
too fast in the clutches of Napoleon, even if the pro-
posal had been made in earnest.

Another priest, Don Jose Maria Morelos, had dis-
tinguished himself by taking Acapulco with a very
small, ill-armed force. In the beginning of 1812 he
was at the gates of Mexico, and so highly was he
esteemed, that on the news of his approach Don Jose

Insurrection in Mexico. 293

Maria Fernandez Guadalupe de Victoria, a rich young
lawyer, twenty-two years old, at once went out to
join him. The Viceroy, Venegas, sent for the Spanish
general, Calleja, to defend the capital, and received
him as if he had been a great conqueror. Indeed, he
did come through terrible difficulties across a country
where there were no roads, and his men had to cut
their way through such a forest, that once they took
twenty-four hours in going three miles. He was a
hard, vindictive man, and whenever an insurgent place
fell into his hands, he burned everything in it except
the churches and convents. He and Venegas could
not agree, and he soon marched from the city of
Mexico to take Cuautla. His cruelty made the
Mexicans resolute to resist his assault. Every one
fought with the utmost bravery, Morelos repulsing the
assailants, and the Indians on the roofs of the houses
keeping up such a shower of stones that they could
not form again. Then Calleja established a regular
siege, sending for artillery from Mexico. Still Morelos
held out, but as he had never expected a regular siege
he had laid in no stores of victuals, and there was a
dreadful famine. Bats, lizards, rats, and mice were
sold at large prices, and when an ox strayed near the
walls there was a sharp fight to secure it. When
Morelos attacked a battery and drove out the enemy,

294 Stories of American History.

there was no keeping his soldiers from throwing them-
selves on the salt meat and cigars, and they lost so
much time that they were driven out again. So Morelos
did not venture to attack the camp, being sure that he
could not keep his hungry men in order when once
they saw food. But when he could hold the city no
longer, he came out at midnight, and marched his men
in dead silence right through the besieger's lines. At
last they came to a hollow ravine, over which they had
to lay hurdles, carried by the Indians. A sentry heard
them, and fired his musket. The Spaniards woke, but
Morelos gave the word for his men to disperse, each
man shifting for himself, to meet again at Trucar.
The Spaniards, in the confusion, began firing at each
other, and killed many men before they found out the
mistake ; but they avenged themselves by most horrid
cruelties on the unhappy city of Cuautla.

Morelos himself was hurt by a fall from his horse,
but his army met again with very little loss, except of
the gallant Leonardo Bravo, who was taken prisoner.
His son, Don Nicolas, soon after gained a success, in
which three hundred prisoners were taken, and Morelos
made him a free gift of them, that he might offer them
in exchange for his father's life. But the Viceroy
would not listen to the offer, and caused Don Leonardo
to be immediately put to death. On this, young Bravo

Insurrection in Mexico. 295

at once released all the three hundred, " to put them
out of his power," he said, " lest, in his grief, he should
be tempted to massacre them in revenge for his
father." However, Morelos soon gathered troops in
such numbers, that, after defeating three Spanish
divisions, he attacked the large city of Oaxarca. Here
Captain Victoria swam across the moat sword in hand,
and cut the ropes of the drawbridge in the face of the
enemy, who were so amazed that he did not receive
a single wound. The troops rushed in and took
the place. Acapulco was soon after taken, and then
Morelos collected a Congress, and an Act of Inde-
pendence was put forth on the I3th of November,
1813. This was the great wish of the heart of
Morelos, but from this time a series of disasters set in
upon him. He tried to take the city of Valladolid,
but was there defeated by General Llano and Colonel
Iturbide. One of his best chiefs, Matamoras, was
taken, and though a large number of Spanish soldiers
were offered in exchange, the captive chief was shot
by order of Calleja, who had been made Viceroy
instead of Venegas. Thenceforth the insurgents shot
all their prisoners.

Iturbide gained further successes, and Morelos was
obliged to escort the Congress from Oaxarca to Puebla
for safety. On his way he was surprised by two

296 Stories of American History.

bodies of the enemy. He commanded Don Nicolas
Bravo to escort the Congress with all the men except
fifty, with whom he would do his best to stop the
Spaniards. Most deserted him as soon as the firing
became hot, but he still stood his ground so un-
dauntedly, that the royalists durst not come near him
till only one man was left by his side. Still unhurt,
he was disarmed, made prisoner, and conducted, in
chains, to General Concha. By him the patriot leader
was treated with respect and carried to Mexico, where
the whole people flocked out to gaze at him. He
showed great calmness and dignity, and said that, in
establishing the Congress, he had done the work he
cared for in his life, and was willing to die. As a
priest, he was given up to the Inquisition, and was by
that tribunal degraded, having all clerical insignia taken
from him one by one in the face of the whole people ;
and this was the only thing that seemed to grieve
him. Afterwards he was given back to " the secular
arm." He dined with Concha, whom he embraced and
thanked for his kindness. He was allowed to receive
the sacraments, and then was led out to die. He knelt
and prayed aloud : " Lord, if I have done well Thou
knowest it; if ill, to Thy infinite mercy I commend
my soul." Then he bound a handkerchief round his
eyes, and gave the signal to fire. He seems to have

Insurrection in Mexico. 297

been a really good man, driven into rebellion by the
cruelty and injustice of the Spaniards. He had given
his life to save the Congress, but his officers cared
little for that body ; and there were quarrels between
Congress and the military, until, as the royalists
pushed them harder, the contest between the civil and
military leaders resulted in rupture. General Teran,
the soldier in command in the province of Puebla,
dispersed Congress by force, and the leaders fought
each for himself without any plan, so that one by one
they were put down.

Nicolas Bravo held out on the mountain of Coparo
till he was at last forced to yield, and kept in prison.
Guadalupe Victoria, in the province of Vera Cruz,
lived a wild outlaw life, and seized all that did not
travel with a strong escort between the port and the
capital ; but at last his band was broken up, and he
wandered alone with nothing but his sword in the
mountain forests. There he lived for three years ; in
the summer on fruits, in the winter in such hunger
that he sometimes had to gnaw the bones of dead
animals which he found.

In 1817 Don Xavier Mina, a Spaniard who had
been baffled in trying to get a freer government in
Spain, made an attempt to revive the cause of freedom
in Mexico. He landed with a body of enthusiasts of

298 Stories of American History.

different nations, some of whom were English. But
he came just as the insurgents had been crushed, and
the only leader in power was a priest named Torres,
in the province of the Baxio, a ferocious, cruel man,
who robbed and burned villages and towns under the
pretence of cutting off the enemy's supplies. After a
year of fighting, during which Mina grew disgusted
with his cause, he was taken and shot in his 28th year.
Torres was shortly after killed, and in July, 1819, the
Viceroy wrote to Madrid that the insurrection was
over, and that he wanted no more soldiers from Spain.

CHAP. XXXVIL— THE INDEPENDENCE
OF MEXICO.

1820 — 1853.

tHE Viceroy, Apodaca, had written to Spain that
the rebellion was entirely put down, but he was
mistaken. The battle had chiefly been fought by men
of Creole birth, commanded by officers in the royal
army ; and in times of need, large promises of favour
had been made them. As soldiers in the royal pay,
they had fought against the patriots as bandits, and
the cruelties on either side had made them bitter
against one another ; but when the rebellion was put
down, they began to think that, after all, it had been
the cause of their own country against which they had
been fighting, and that Spain was a hard mistress, who
made her colonies her slaves.

Spain was in an unsettled state, and Ferdinand VII.
had been forced, in 1819, into accepting a constitution
or rule, by which the King was checked by the Cortes

300 Stories of American History.

or Parliament, and the Inquisition was abolished. Of
the Spaniards in Mexico, some held with the old rule,
some with the new, which of course they had been
obliged to accept. The Viceroy, Apodaca, thought
the constitution would overthrow religion, and every-
thing good, and he resolved to proclaim a return to
loyalty, to the King, not to the King and Cortes. He
trusted for help to Don Augustin de Iturbide, a Creole
who had risen to high command for his valour against
the insurgents, and who had been terribly cruel.
There is a letter of his still existing, dated Good
Friday, 1814, in which he said that in honour of the
day, he had commanded three hundred excommunicated
wretches to be shot. The Spanish authorities ful-
minated the decrees of the Inquisition against rebel
prisoners as heretics.

Apodaca, in 1820, gave Iturbide the command of a
body of troops, who were intended to restore the
power of the King. Instead of this, Iturbide proposed
to them to maintain the Independence of Mexico, the
Catholic Faith, and union among themselves. As
they guaranteed these three points, they called them-
selves the Army of the Three Guarantees. The
Spaniards in Mexico deposed Apodaca in their fright,
and Iturbide continued to make progress. When
Guadalupe Victoria had disappeared in the forests, at

The Independence of Mexico. 301

the dispersion and defeat of the insurgents, he told
two Indians who were the last to quit him, that on a
certain rugged mountain perhaps they would find his
bones. As soon as the Mexicans were again in arms
for their country, these Indians went to the spot, and
spent six weeks in searching the woods in vain, till
just as they were going to give up the quest, one of
them saw prints of feet which must have worn shoes.
He waited two days in case Victoria should return
thither, and then being obliged to go home and get
food, he hung on a tree the last meal he had, four little
maize cakes. Two days later Victoria came to the
spot and found the cakes, when he had been four days
without food, and two years without tasting bread.
He hid himself and waited, and in due time he saw
his Indian friend appear, and sprung out to meet him.
The Indian, seeing a spectre-like figure, covered with
hair, and no clothing but an old cotton wrapper, and
sword in hand, ran away in terror ; and only on hearing
himself called by name, did he turn back and recognize
his old master. He took him to his home, and no
sooner was it known that Guadalupe Victoria was
found, than all the old patriots of the province rallied
round him, and marched with him to join Iturbide,
who was on his way to besiege the city of Mexico.
However, a new Viceroy, Don Juan O'Donuju, had

302 Stories of American History.

been sent out by the liberal party in Spain, and,
finding Iturbide too strong for him, he recognized the
independence of Mexico, in the name of King
Ferdinand, and gave up the city of Mexico to the
army of the three guarantees, on the 24th of August,
1821, all the old Spanish party being allowed to take
refuge in Cuba.

A Junta was appointed, and Iturbide made President-
General ; but the old patriot party soon found that he
was not to be trusted, and Victoria took to the woods
again. A Congress was called together, and there
were hot disputes. Some wanted to offer Mexico as
an empire to the brother of the King of Spain, others
to have a republic, and those who feared Iturbide's
ambition wanted to reduce the army, of which he was
General-in-chief. Thereupon, he took his measures
secretly, and on the i8th of May, 1822, the sergeants,
common soldiers, and beggars, assembled before his
house, and proclaimed him Emperor Augustin I. of
Mexico, with loud shouts of Viva / and firing of guns.
He filled the galleries of the hall of Congress with his
soldiers, and thus forced the deputies to accept him,
upon which Bravo and the other old patriots with-
drew, as Victoria had done.

The new emperor made demands upon the Con-
gress which were quite unsuitable to any notions of

The Independence of Mexico. 303

freedom ; and when these were not granted, he first
arrested fourteen of the deputies ; afterward, when
the rest would not bend to his will, he followed the
example of Cromwell and Bonaparte, by sending his
soldiers to turn the whole assembly out of its hall,
and locking the door.

His whole dependence was on his army; but before
he had reigned a year, he had quarrelled with one of
his chief officers, General Santa Anna, Governor of
Vera Cruz, who with his garrison declared that
Iturbide had broken his oath by dissolving the Con-
gress, and pledged himself to get it assembled again.
The officer who was sent against Santa Anna at once
turned against Iturbide. Guadalupe Victoria once
more appearing, the chief command was given to him ;
and most of the army, and all the country besides, were
unanimously against Augustin I. He called together
all the members of the old Congress then in Mexico,
and offered to abdicate. But they said that to accept
his abdication would be to allow that he ever had any
rights, which they denied that he had ; but that he and
his family should be allowed to depart, and should
receive an income of ,£5,000 a year. He chose
General Bravo for his escort, and was sent off in a
ship to Italy. However, he could not rest there, and
returned to Mexico in 1824, but was almost im-

304 Stories of American History.

mediately taken and shot, lest he should begin a fresh
disturbance.

Victoria, Bravo, and Negrete managed affairs while
a fresh Congress was being elected to decide on the
new form of government. It was to be a federal re-
public, after the fashion of the United States. There
were thirteen provinces, reaching from the Isthmus of
Darien up to the River Colorado, Texas being the
most northerly ; and five more thinly settled territories,
Tlascala, New Mexico, Colima, and Old and New
California, these last lying westward of the United
States. There was a Congress, divided into a House
of Deputies and a Senate ; a President and a Vice-
president, each to hold office for four years, and,
unlike the American President, never to be re-elected
for the next term of office. The President and all
officers of government were always to be Mexicans,
but the clergy of all degrees might come from any
country. The Mexican Congress declared that no
form of religion but the Roman Catholic should be
tolerated, and did not interfere with the property of
the Church, but abolished the Inquisition. The
Mexicans were, however, put into great difficulties by
the Pope, who viewed them all as rebels, and refused
to sanction their appointments to bishoprics. Thus
the Mexican Church has been left to itself, and as the

The Independence of Mexico. 305

people were terribly ignorant, though devout, super-
stition has grown worse on one side, and misbelief or
infidelity on the other. This division of the people
introduced the matter of religion into the feuds and
dissensions of the republic. Though several of the
priests before the revolution were distinguished as
patriots and even as soldiers, the great body of the
clergy remained conservative, and with them were
joined a large portion of the better class of people.
On the other side were those of no religion, and those
who, still adhering nominally to their superstition,
hated the priesthood for its exactions, and who dis-
covered how little morality, and how little sincerity,
many of the priests possessed. In a word, the popular
party, mixing religion and politics, understanding
neither, and debasing both, became a party of de-
structives. Brigandage prevailed ; sometimes dignified
with the name of patriotism, often robbery pure and
simple. While the country districts were unsafe, the
cities harboured gamblers, thieves, and idlers. Even
the better and more prominent men were not free
from the first of these vices. Public buildings, roads,
churches, and monasteries were destroyed, and the
proof of manliness was to strike at anything good
which had been Spanish, and was still preserved by
the conservative party. Nothing was repaired, the

306 Stories of American History.

cities had no police, and there was really no govern-
ment. The Spaniards, in their two centuries of rule,
had more than restored the damage they had done in
their conquest ; but independent Mexico relapsed into
a far worse condition than she was in under Aztec
dominion.

In 1853, Santa Anna, then an exile, was recalled by
the Mexicans and made Dictator. The history of
this man is truly remarkable. He was a distinguished
soldier in the war of the Mexican revolution, and was
the first to proclaim the Mexican Republic in 1822.
All his life he was appearing, disappearing, and reap-
pearing in Mexican affairs ; now dictator, now in exile,
now at the head of the army, and then in prison. In
the time he had been upon the stage, some thirty
changes of government had succeeded each other ;
during which Mexico had lost the Central American
provinces and Texas and California. His recall was
followed of course by his expulsion. He was unques-
tionably the most able man that Mexico had produced,
though in his nature he shared in the cruel ferocity
which seemed inseparable from the character of
Mexican leaders.

CHAP. XXXVIIL— THE EMPEROR
MAXIMILIAN.

1858-1882.

EANTIME out of the chaos in Mexico rose in
1858, Benito Juarez, " le petit Indien" as the
French styled him, from his parentage. He seized
Vera Cruz, where he could command the customs,
revenues, and confiscated Church property to re-
plenish his coffers. He even knocked down Church
buildings, and sold their sites. It is said that a
Belgian was the purchaser of one church for ^19 IDS.
All this made him the idol of the anti-clerical party.
He was elected President of the Republic, and
executed the decrees against the Church with great
severity. The foreign commercial residents in Mexico,
thinking they had found at last a powerful strong-
handed man who could settle the government, made
him large loans for that purpose, to repay which
the revenues of the customs were pledged by Juarez.
But payment was evaded or refused, and after Juarez

308 Stories of American History.

decreed suspension, for two years, of the pledge of the
customs and the payment of foreign debts, his course
brought the combined demand of England, France, and
Spain for indemnity and reparation. A fleet, com-
posed of vessels of the three nations, appeared in the
Gulf of Mexico. Vera Cruz was occupied, and the
threat made to advance upon the capital. An armis-
tice was held, to the terms of which Louis Napoleon
refused his assent ; and England and Spain, suspecting
his ulterior designs, withdrew. The French troops
still remained. In 1862, the French finally declared
war against Juarez, and were joined by adherents of
the clerical party. France had indeed entered into
the civil war in Mexico, under the old rule " divide
and conquer." The other European nations held
aloof, the United States exercised diplomatic pressure
against France; but her troops pressed on, took the
city of Puebla by siege, and on the loth of June
occupied the city of Mexico. Juarez fled from the
capital, and transferred his seat of government to San
Luis Potosi.

A provisional government was established, of course
in the anti-Juarez interest. An "Assembly of No-
tables " was summoned, representing the clerical party,
with some others, perhaps, who were ready to follow
any road out of anarchy. The Notables decided on a

The Emperor Maximilian. 309

limited hereditary monarchy, with a Catholic prince for
sovereign. The crown was offered to Maximilian,
Archduke of Austria, and younger brother of the
Emperor, and accepted by him. With his newly
married wife, Charlotte, daughter of Leopold, King of
Belgium, he sailed for Mexico, and was warmly
welcomed, June, 1864, by the clerical party. He was
a fine, high-spirited young prince of thirty-four, full of
eagerness to do good. But Juarez was still in the
field, and the larger part of the nation were determined
to accept no foreign government. The Emperor and
Empress were excellent people, who longed to bring
the restless nation into good order. But they -were
not as clever as they were good, and were too German
to suit those tropical people, the Mexicans, who hated
their simple earnest activity and honesty. The
national pride of the Mexicans chafed besides at
having French soldiers everywhere.

The young Emperor had fallen into the hands of
bad advisers. His Mexican counsellors tempted him
into Mexican practices. He issued a proclamation in
1865 declaring the republic extinct in law and in fact,
by the close of the term of Juarez and the vacancy of
the Presidency. Juarez replied that he was President
till another could be elected. In the same proclama-
tion Maximilian threatened death to persons taken in

310 Stories of American History.

armed resistance against his government Under this
edict many estimable and popular officers were put to
death, and the army of Juarez gained strength in
volunteers and recruits. Furthermore, Maximilian lost
respect by consenting to the restoration of slavery, and
other abuses, which in his heart he condemned.
More trouble awaited him. The United States had,
all the time, recognized the Republic of Mexico, and
refused recognition of the prince, who, they said, had
thrust himself where nobody wanted him. The United
States having conquered its own difficulty, strong
representations were made to the French Government
against the presence of French soldiers in Mexico.
Denied at the outset support from England and Spain,
finding moral support nowhere, and pressed by the
great expense of the army in Mexico, Napoleon with-
drew his troops in 1866, and the Empress went to
Europe to beg assistance. It was in vain. Maximi-
lian was entreated to abdicate when the French de-
parted, but felt bound in honour to remain. The
nation rose against him. He made a brave defence,
but on the night of May 14, 1867, was betrayed into
the hands of his enemies by one of his officers, who
is said to have received 3,000 golden ounces for his
treachery. With two of his generals the emperor was
tried by court martial and shot. The European minis-

The Emperor Maximilian. 311

ters protested in vain against this breach of the laws of
war. But it was no departure from Mexican precedent.
The charges against him were based on his unfortunate
decree, under which the officers of Juarez had been
shot, and the two Mexicans who were executed with
him were implicated in that unhappy measure. " Poor
Charlotte !" he was heard to murmur, as he dropped
the handkerchief as a signal to his executioners. Well
might he say so ; for, shocked at his misfortunes, she
became hopelessly insane.

The Mexican comment on these transactions was
the election of Juarez as President, in the autumn of
the same year. Re-elected in 1871, he died in office
in 1872. The character of "le petit Indien" is open
to many charges, but his ability and patriotism are
unquestioned. Mexico still remains a republic, though
it cannot forget its old propensity to rebellion and civil
war. Its prospects just now seem to brighten. There
has been no rebellion for six years, and the present
President, Gonzales, was quietly chosen in 1880. The
Panama railway, since it immensely shortens England's
communication with her Australian colonies, makes
peace very important. Though not traversing Mexi-
can territory, it has its influence over her through her
neighbours. In Mexico proper there are more than
five hundred miles of railway, the latest in construe-

3 1 2 Stories of American History.

tion connecting the republic with the United States.
Security for trade is promoted, and the condition of
Mexico is now better than ever before.

One truly hopeful sign of light appears. Some of
the devout and better educated of the Mexican clergy,
aided by the missionaries, money, and sympathy of
members of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the
United States, are founding a new church organiza-
tion, which promises to give vitality to the old stock ;
rejecting errors and superstitions, but retaining its
| historical continuity. The name chosen is " The
Church of Jesus."

CHAP. XXXIX.— INDEPENDENCE OF
CHILI, PERU, AND BRAZIL.

1817 — 1882.

tHE Chilian revolt had been put down by Spain
in 1813; but by 1817 the patriots were up in
arms again. The Argentine Republic, on the opposite
side of the continent, sent them help, and they de-
feated the Spaniards at Chacabuco.

Thereupon they proclaimed a republic with General
San Martin at its head ; but in the midst of their
arrangements the royalists gave them a severe beating.
However, success made the Spaniards careless, and
the Chilians won another great victory on the plain of
Maypu. But what was worth much more to them
was the volunteered aid of Thomas Alexander, Lord
Cochrane, afterwards Earl of Dundonald. He had
fought bravely under the British flag ; but, on a false
accusation about money matters, had been dismissed.
He came to his title and estates in 1831, and was

Stories of American History.

restored to his rank in the navy, and as Knight of
the Bath. Meanwhile he sailed about the world,
tendering his sword wherever love of adventure or
of freedom led him. He came with his family to
Valparaiso, entered the service of Chili, and with
numerous English sailors and officers set himself as
resolutely as Drake or Hawkins of old to drive the
Spanish flag from the Pacific, not only from the Chilian,
but from the Peruvian harbours. Sailing for the great
harbour of Callao with seven vessels, two fire-ships,
and four hundred soldiers, he sent a flag to challenge
the Viceroy of Peru to fight him, ship for ship. The
challenge was declined, and he resolved instead to
attack Valdivia ; because it was deemed so impossible
of capture that the enemy would not be on their guard.
He could take with him upon this enterprise but three
ships, and his own was so badly strained that he could
only keep it afloat by pumping continually; and to
encourage his men he took his spell at the pumps with
his own hands.

Valdivia was very strong, and defended by nine
forts ; but they were far apart, and he made a dash at
them one by one. His boldness so dismayed the
Spaniards that they surrendered the whole city to him
on the 5th of February, 1820. He went on sailing up
and down the coast, seizing Spanish ships ; and on one

Independence of Chili, Peru, and Brazil. 315

of these voyages was dismayed to see his little boy of
five years old perched on an officer's back, waving his
cap and shouting Viva la Patria ! having run away
from home and got on board.

One night a Spaniard broke into Cochrane's house,
which was a little way out of Valparaiso, and threatened
his wife with death, unless she would reveal the secret
orders with which her husband had sailed. She refused,
and the man had actually once stabbed her with a
stiletto when her servants came in and saved her.

Cochrane made a descent on the rocky islet of San
Lorenzo, near Callao, with a fort upon it, in which he
found thirty-seven Chilian prisoners, working in
manacles, and chained at night by the leg to an iron
bar. He made it a manufactory of rockets and muni-
tions for fire-ships ; and sailed about capturing Spanish
treasure ships. He sent parties to seize the trains of
mules laden with treasure coming down from the mines
in the Andes. On the 3rd of November, 1820, he
sailed with a fifty-gun frigate through the narrow
passage between San Lorenzo and the mainland,
entering the harbour of Callao by a way in which it
was thought no large ships could come. That same
day tidings were brought that the city of Guayaquil
had proclaimed its independence, and sent off its
Spanish governor, without shedding a drop of blood.

316 Stories of American History.

There was only one large ship of war in Callao Harbour,
but there were four lesser ones, and fifteen gun-boats,
protected by the batteries on shore. On the night of
the 5th, Cochrane, with two hundred and fifty men in
boats, stole up to the huge Spanish ship, the Esmeralda.
Springing up the side of the ship, Cochrane shot the
sentry, and shouted to his men : " Up, my lads, she's
ours ! " There was much hard fighting before she was
won, and Cochrane was slightly wounded. But he
captured the ship with three hundred and twenty men
in her, and thus did the greatest exploit in the war.

Peru had remained quiet under colonial rule, but the
republics of Columbia on the north, and Chili on the
south, felt it needful to root out the power of Spain.
While Cochrane was attacking Callao, which is the
seaport of Lima, General San Martin with a Chilian
army beseiged Lima, and on its yielding, the indepen-
dence of Peru was proclaimed, in 1821. The royalists
were strong however ; they regained possession of the
city, and there was a good deal more fighting. General
Bolivar led an army from Columbia in 1822, gained a
great victory at Pichincha, and took Quito. He then
marched upon Lima, which the royalists evacuated at
his approach ; but their forces, under General Rodil,
threw themselves into the forts of Callao. At last, in
1824, the battle of Ayacucho finally broke the strength

Independence of Chili, Peru, and Brazil. 3 1 7

of the Spaniards, though Callao held out with true
Spanish constancy, through eighteen months of
blockade, and only surrendered in 1826. General
San Martin was declared Protector of Peru in 1821,
but in 1822 summoned a Congress, into whose hands
he resigned all his authority, quitting the service of
Peru in disgust. He refused all money grants, but
accepted the public recognition of his valour and inte-
grity. He retired to Chili, and thence to Europe. The
Peruvian Congress conferred upon him the honorary
title of Generalissimo and Founder of the Liberty of
Peru, and gave Cochrane public thanks for his services.
Upper Peru, namely the southern part, which con-
tains the higher Andes and the mines of Potosi,
refused to belong to Buenos Ayres, but requested
Bolivar to form a constitution for it as a separate State,
and called itself after his name, Bolivia. He gave it
a President for life, who was to have power to name
his successor. Bolivar was accused of intending to
join this new State with Peru and Columbia, and make
himself perpetual Dictator. However, he was so really
honest that the Columbians soon felt him to be their
only safe head, and he was elected President in 1828.
He kept the chief power in Columbia till his resigna-
tion in 1830. His death occurred in the same year.
Peru, which had elected him perpetual Dictator, had

Stories of American History.

meanwhile cast him off, and proclaimed a President.
But he was a truly great man. He had spent almost
all his fortune in the cause of South American liberty ;
and though he had much public money in his hands,
he died poor. He had done great good in improving
law and justice, and bringing in education ; but he
found it a weary and disappointing task, and was
followed by constant suspicion and dislike. In truth,
these men of Spanish and half-caste or mestizo birth
were unfit for free institutions ; and the fifty years that
have passed since their emancipation have been full of
disturbances and revolutions. Shortly before his death,
Bolivar issued a farewell address vindicating his cha-
racter ; and his countrymen have done him the tardy
justice which death procures for great men. In 1842
his remains were removed from their first humble
place of sepulture, and interred at Caraccas, where a
triumphal arch was erected to his memory.

The South American republics are Ecuador or
Equator — containing the seaport of Guayaquil —
Columbia, Peru, Bolivia, Paraguay, Uruguay, the
Argentine Republic, and Chili. Patagonia remains
unsettled and in the possession of the natives.
England, France, and Holland retain their possessions
in Guiana. Brazil remained nominally united to
Portugal till 1826. When John VI., or Joao, with the i

Independence of Chili, Peru, and Brazil. 319

royal family of Portugal, fled to Brazil in 1807, Dom
Pedro, the heir to the Portuguese throne, was taken
with him. In 1821, John VI. returned to Portugal, and
left Dom Pedro as Prince Regent in Brazil. When
in 1822 the Brazilians made their demonstration for
independence, they took a middle course and elected
the Regent Emperor of Brazil, with the title of Pedro
I. The republicans in some districts refused submis-
sion ; and Cochrane, who had left Chili, gave his
services to Dom Pedro. The malcontents were sup-
pressed, and the area of Brazil widened, and Cochrane
was created by the Emperor Marquis of Maranham.
In 1825 Dom Pedro I. was recognized by the Portu-
guese Cortes ; and in 1826, his father having died, he
claimed the crown of Portugal, but resigned in favour
of his daughter, Maria de Gloria. His Brazilian
subjects grew discontented, and demanded a constitu-
tion like that of England. Dom Pedro I. could not
make up his mind to grant this, and abdicated in 1831
in favour of his son Pedro, then about five years old,
now reigning in Brazil as Dom Pedro II. Leaving
his son to be educated by his ministry, Pedro I.
returned to Europe, and replaced his daughter on the
throne of Portugal, which had been usurped by her
uncle Miguel. The double abdicator, Dom Pedro I.,
died in 1834.

CHAP. XL. — THE EMANCIPATION OF
NEGROES IN THE ENGLISH ISLES.

1772-1838.

, LL this time a great question affecting America
was being fought out in England. It was the
question whether it was right towards God or towards
man, that one human being might be seized and made
the property of another, like a sheep or an ox.

Good men took it up, and tried to argue it out.
They said slavery was allowed by the Bible, and even
in Christian times, and that Negroes were too dull to
think for themselves ; and that though strong to work
in hot climates they were so lazy that they must be
made to work, and that it was better for them to be
slaves than savages. On the other hand, it was
argued that, in the state of society under the Old
Testament, if prisoners of war had not been enslaved
they must have been slaughtered, and, likewise, that
the Law guarded slaves carefully from cruelty. The

Emancipation in the English Isles. 321

Gospel had so worked on men's hearts that gradually
freedom had come to all slaves in Christian lands, and
that it had been really going back to heathen ways
to enslave Negroes. Moreover, though a good man
might train his slaves well, many only used them like
tools, left them in gross vice and ignorance, and
worked them harder, and used them far more bar-
barously, than the Law of Moses had ever permitted.

The first step to a better state of things was made
by Mr. Granville Sharp in 1772, when he took up the
cause of 'a Negro named Somerset, whom his master
had brought from the West Indies, and claimed as his
property to take back. The judges decided that no
one is a slave in Britain, and that a slave thus becomes
free from the moment he touches the soil of the
British Isles.

Then Thomas Clarkson and William Wilberforce
set themselves to stop the slave trade, namely, the
actual stealing of men and women from the coast of
Guinea, and selling them in America. It was a twenty
years' struggle. Wilberforce began in 1787, and went
on every year bringing his bill before the House of
Commons; but it was not till 1807 that his persever-
ance at last succeeded in getting a bill passed which
made it unlawful for Englishmen or English ships to
be men-stealers.

322 Stories of American History.

But this was of little use while other nations went
on with the horrid traffic, so the rest were asked to
pass the same law. The United States did so at
once ; and so did the republics of Chili, Venezuela, and
Buenos Ay res ; and Sweden and Denmark, Holland
and France, when the great peace of 1814 was made.

But Spain and Portugal wanted to be paid for the
loss, and even then Portugal only abolished the slave-
trade north of the equator, and promised to put an end
to it in eight years ; and Spain made the same pro-
mise, but did not keep it. Indeed the laws were of
little use when there was no one to put them in force,
and high prices could be had for blacks all over the
hotter parts of America. So by further laws, agreed
upon by the nations, it was ruled that slave-trading
ships should be dealt with as pirates, and a right of
search was granted. British ships were kept cruising
in the Atlantic to search any vessel suspected of being
a slaver, and seize it if any slaves were found on
board. It was seldom possible to return the poor
Negroes to their homes, since they had generally been
captured by some fierce tribe, and therefore the British
settlement of Sierra Leone, in Africa, which had been
already begun for liberated slaves, was made into an
abode for them to be trained in civilization and Chris-
tianity.

Emancipation in the English Isles. 323

High prices still tempted the lawless men of all
nations to run all the risks of carrying on the slave
trade ; and the miseries of the wretched captives were
increased as the vessels were made as small, light, and
swift as possible. The slaves were hidden between
decks in a fearfully crowded state, jammed together
standing, and with so little air, water, or food, that
numbers died, and the horrors and sufferings were
unspeakable. Nothing could cure this while slaves
could still be bought and sold, and Thomas Powell
Buxton and Henry Brougham (both at that date un-
titled) were working to do away entirely with slavery
in English possessions. If coffee, sugar, and cotton
could not be grown without slave labour, it was better,
many thought, to do without them altogether. There
were difficulties in the way, for it was unjust to ruin the
West India planters, and the Negroes needed to be
trained for freedom. Reports that their liberty had
been decreed came to Jamaica in 1831, and they rose
upon their masters, committed sundry murders, and
they burned plantations, so that it was feared that the
Haitian horrors would come over again. However,
they were put down by force of arms, and in 1833 a
grant of twenty millions was made to compensate the
owners, and on the ist of January, 1834, eight hundred
thousand slaves were set free. They were to serve as

324 Stories of American History.

apprentices to their masters for six years, but this was
found not to answer. The Negroes could not under-
stand their semi- freedom, and by 1838 this apprentice-
ship was given up, and there was not a slave in the
British dominions.

The loss was heavy. The Negroes just released
would not work when they were not obliged. In the
West Indian climate the very smallest labour suffices
to produce plenty of food, and the Negroes did not
care for anything more. In the sugar and rum manu-
factures, and all else that had made the isles rich and
prosperous, there was a falling off to the extent of three-
fourths or more, and in some plantations production
was entirely given up, and many families were ruined.
Yet the evils of slavery are so great that even at this
cost its abolition was well gained. There were cases,
more frequent than otherwise, in which the master was
good, and felt the responsibility of his charges ; but the
misfortune was that there was no effectual legal mode
to prevent power from being so used as to be cruel to
the slave, and ruinous to the character of the master.
Public opinion and, what is better than that, conscience,
did not affect those who most needed control.

The liberation of the West Indian slaves, and the
injury to the plantations, enhanced the value of slaves
where slavery still existed. Other causes operated to

Emancipation in the English Isles. 325

raise the value of slave products. In the southernmost
of the United States, especially in the rice swamps,
and on the sugar plantations where it was thought only
Negroes could possibly labour, their work was harder ;
and the price of an able-bodied man or woman, and
even of children, was raised to an extravagant sum.
Slavery was chiefly profitable in a new soil, and in
raising peculiar staples. In Virginia, where the soil
was worked out by tobacco and farm crops, and in
other middle State districts, people used to sell their
superfluous slaves to the South, taking children from
their parents, and entirely disregarding the tie of
marriage. The child of a slave-mother was always
the slave of her master, whoever the child's father
might be. In a free land, an objectionable servant can
be discharged, or a useless one dismissed. Under the
slave system the only way to reduce the expense, or
get rid of a bad servant, was to sell.

Yet the more the Abolitionists tried to make the
Northern States ashamed of the institution with which
they were politically associated, the more the Southern
States prided themselves upon it. There always had
been a jealousy between the two divisions, and it grew
worse and worse. The free and slave States were
equal in number, for whenever a free State was
admitted at the North, another slave State was made at

326 Stories of American History.

the South. Of the eight Presidents elected previous to
r838, five were from the South, and the necessity of
courting the Southern vote kept that region most
powerful, though the North was strong in thoughtful
and influential men. Attempts were made to give
religious teaching and education to the slaves, their
own mistresses often acting as teachers. But this was
dreaded by the masters, whose apprehensions never
were realized, though many of the more intelligent
Negroes became restless, and ran away to the Florida
forests and to the swamps, and not a few made
their escape to the North, and thence to Canada. Yet
the history of slavery in the United States records
very few instances of violence or attempts at rising.
For whatever difficulty the Southerners had or feared,
the Northern abolitionists were held to blame ; and the
life of a man known to be on that side of the question
was hardly safe in some districts of the South, and his
presence was tolerated nowhere. Strangely enough,
all this time people in the North loathed and shrank
from Negroes, and would not let a coloured person eat
with them, or sit in the same seat at church, or in the
same public carriage. The condition of Haiti was a
bad precedent for the Negroes ; and the experiment
in Jamaica was pressed also against their emancipation.
Yet in Jamaica the result vindicates the laws of right

Emancipation in the English Isles. 327

and justice. The coloured people are law-abiding and
inoffensive. Extreme poverty is not known among
them ; and while they produce enough for their own
needs, they raise even something for exportation. The
old plantations once deserted are being taken up by
Cubans and others. Labour is supplied by " Coolies,"
or East Indians, who are brought under a system of
indenture to this and other tropical regions, to take
the place of the Negroes. Liable to abuse, and full of
difficulties, the subject has been so guarded by legis-
lation, that the strong objections made to it as a new
system of slavery are being removed. There was a
difficulty in Jamaica in 1865 — a Negro rising — which
was suppressed in a summary manner. Since then
the island has gone on improving. There is little
doubt that it will recover its former commercial pros-
perity. And there is no doubt that freedom is better
than slavery.

It is to the credit of the Spanish American republics,
with all their faults, that their constitutions prohibited
slavery. The European nations followed the example
of England as to their colonies. Only in "ever faith-
ful Cuba," still a dependency of Spain, does slavery
exist in the western world. However nominally faith-
ful to Spain Cuba may be, the ruling party, the native
Spaniards in the island, disregarded the edicts of the

328 Stories of American History.

Spanish Government against the slave trade ; and hold
still with an iron grip the Negroes whose gradual
emancipation the home authorities have decreed. The
importation of slaves has ceased ; Coolies and Chinese
are introduced to take their place, and are treated with
rigour. For three years, from 1868, a rebellion was
in active progress, during which over forty thousand
prisoners were put to death. The aim of the insur-
gents is the independence of the island and the
abolition of slavery. The native Spaniards, against
whom the insurrections is aimed, form scarcely more
than one-tenth of the population. Against them are
opposed Creoles, free Negroes, and slaves ; the same
discordant elements which existed in Haiti. The end
of slavery must come — and let us hope without more
horror and bloodshed.

CHAP. XLI.— BOUNDARY QUESTIONS.

> LL this time England's possessions to the north
had been becoming more thickly peopled. A
company for trading in furs, which had been formed in
1670 by Prince Rupert, and called the Hudson's Bay
Company, had stations and forts for dealing with the
Indian hunters all over the cold regions of Labrador
and Rupert's Land. The operations of the company
eventually extended across the continent to the Pacific
Ocean, and round their stations a certain amount of
population began to spring up.

Nova Scotia was chiefly peopled by descendants of
the royalists who had left the States on their inde-
pendence. Newfoundland harboured among her fogs
colonies of fisher-folk ; and into Upper Canada there
had long been a continual stream of settlers, many of
them officers of the navy and army, who, being no

330 Stories of American History.

longer needed after the great war, had obtained, on
easy terms, grants of land in the backwoods.

Upper Canada was almost all British, Lower Canada
chiefly French. There were jealousies between the
two provinces ; and a feeling of discontent against the
British Government was shown in a struggle of the
Legislatures against the governors who were appointed
in England. This opposition was most marked in
Lower Canada, and resulted in actual rebellion in 1837.
It was soon put down by the loyal militia, under Sir
John Colborne, a tried old Peninsular general. Mean-
while, discontents were rife in the upper province,
where the loyalists proved able to take care of them-
selves. There were many " sympathizers," as they
were called, in the United States, and the rebels who
escaped from Canada derived aid from them. A
" Provisional Government " was formed by the insur-
gents in Upper Canada, which existed chiefly on paper,
and made liberal offers for volunteers. This " Govern-
ment " took possession of Navy Island in the British
shore of the Channel of Niagara, and made it a
rendezvous for volunteers, and a depot of arms stolen
from American arsenals. An old steamer called the
Caroline plied between Navy Island and the United
States side. In the night of December 29, 1837,
while moored at her American landing, this vessel was

Boundary Questions. 331

seized by a party of Canadian loyalists. One man of
her crew was killed in the struggle, and the captors
set fire to the vessel, and sent her drifting down over
the cataract, but without a living soul on board. Navy
Island was abandoned, and the arms were restored.
The rebellion in Canada had already been subdued
before this affair. There was much soreness and
some diplomatic correspondence on the subject, but
this matter, with others, was adjusted by the Treaty of
Washington in 1842. By that treaty the boundary
between Maine and the British possessions was deter-
mined by mutual concessions being made ; and five
years later the line between the United States and
British territory on the Pacific coast was settled on the
forty-ninth parallel.

An incident growing out of the Canadian rebellion
was the arrest and trial of a man named McLeod. He
boasted in the city of Buffalo of his share in the
destruction of the Caroline. He was arrested and put
on trial in a court of the State of New York, charged
with the murder of the one man who was killed. Each
country watched the case with much anxiety, but the
prisoner was acquitted in default of evidence. Serious
questions of national importance would otherwise have
been involved.

In 1867 Upper and Lower Canada were united so

332 Stories of American History.

as to have one Legislature ; and Nova Scotia and the
other provinces, together with the immense tracts held
by the Hudson's Bay Company, have been joined with
them in one great government, called the Dominion
of Canada. It is larger than Europe, but has fewer
inhabitants than Scotland. The chief city is Ottawa.
Almost all the population is British, except the Lower
Canadians, and the Indians who still live at the west
in large tribes. Government protects them, and they
are not ill-treated ; but it is impossible to hinder traders
from selling them liquor, which ruins them. Some are
settled round missionaries, who keep them in good
order, and teach them to till the land ; but their con-
stitution seems best fitted for a wandering life, and
they dwindle and die out, even when taken care of.

On the western outskirts of the United States
frequent wars have taken place, of more or less con-
sequence. It is the old, old story over and over again,
and the Red men have had to fall back, step by step.
Reservations of tracts are made for them, annuities are
paid them, good men try to teach and Christianize
them, and the laws forbid selling them " fire-water," as
they call it. But greedy traders let them have arms,
quarrels break out with the settlers, revenge begins,
the Indians do some horrid deed of cruelty, and
punishment follows. But the worst features of Indian

Boundary Questions. 333

warfare have been softened since the days when
desperate scattered colonists fought for their lives.
The Indians now feel the power they cannot resist.
Still they are being swept away, though on the reser-
vations missionaries labour for them, and large sums
are raised by religious bodies to support the work.
Many youths, male and female, are brought to estab-
lishments in the old States for instruction, and so far,
with excellent results ; chieftains voluntarily offering
their children to learn white men's ways.

Meantime difficulties arose about Texas, a large
Mexican province, very scantily inhabited till settlers
from the United States began obtaining grants. The
Constitution of Mexico was like the United States,
federal, and the settlers organized their State. In
1836 General Santa Anna overthrew the Federal
Constitution. The Texans revolted, Santa Anna
invaded Texas, and the Texans, under General
Samuel Houston, conquered the invaders, and made
Santa Anna prisoner. Texas became an independent
republic, and so remained until 1845, and was recog-
nized by the United States and the European powers.
In that year it was admitted as a slave-holding State,
into the United States under President Polk, though
not without resolute opposition. Aside from the ques-
tion of slavery, it was said the annexation would lead

334 Stories of American History.

to war. And war followed. Though Mexico had
recognized the independence of Texas, there was a
disputed boundary. The quarrel of Texas became
that of the United States. General Zachary Taylor
(afterward, and in consequence of his military successes,
President of the United States) was ordered to occupy
the disputed territory. He was attacked by the Mexi-
cans, and in the battles of Palo Alto and Resaca de da
Palma defeated and drove them out of the territory in
dispute. The Congress of the United States declared
that war existed by the act of Mexico. Volunteers
were called for, Taylor was reinforced and ordered to
invade Mexico. He besieged and took Monterey in
September, 1846, and then at Buena Vista defeated
Santa Anna with about six thousand troops, against
the Mexican force of about twenty thousand.

In March, 1847, General Winfield Scott, a veteran
of sixty, Commander-in-Chief of the United States
army, landed with twelve thousand men at Vera Cruz.
That city surrendered on the 26th, and General Scott
took his line of march upon Mexico, which city he
entered as conqueror on September i4th. On his
way he had fought and won six battles with the Mexi-
cans, who, though superior in numbers, were signally
defeated. One of the causes of his success was that
his army had mainly subsisted by purchase, not by

Boundary Questions. 335

forage. The city of Mexico was not now on an island
in a lake, but in a valley, and contained one hundred
and forty thousand inhabitants. The provinces of
New Mexico and Chihuahua were invaded, but the
signal event of the war was the acquisition of Cali-
fornia. Colonel John C. Fremont, who was there as
a surveyor and explorer, rallied the settlers from the
United States, and with the aid of a naval force which
had appeared on the coast, took possession of the
country. The Mexicans, with their capital taken,
were forced to make peace, giving up New Mexico
and California, and admitting the Texan boundary
about which the war began. For this surrender of
territory they received a large compensation, as the
institutions of the United States are against acquisi-
tion of territory by conquest.

All this had been much disapproved of by many.
The war was expensive, and Texas was said only to
mean Taxes, spelt in another way, and annexation to
be a mere fine name for robbery. There was some-
thing, however, to be said for the provinces them-
selves, which might well wish to join a well-governed
and prosperous Union like the United States, rather
than belong to such a country of misrule and anarchy
as Mexico. And California was found to be a much
greater prize than had been supposed. In February,

336 Stories of American History.

1848, out of the sands of the Sacramento River were
picked particles of gold, and the soil was found to be
full of small lumps, which only needed to be sifted and
washed out. On the news, thousands upon thousands
came from all countries to make their fortunes. In
two years the city of San Francisco alone had fifteen
thousand inhabitants, and the gold region nearly a
hundred thousand, against about forty thousand before
the gold discovery.

The slave-holding interest had gained a great point
in the admission of Texas. California was now the
great point of dispute. Here free labour and slave
labour were brought face to face. The hardy miners
— and mining meant labour — would not work side by
side with slaves, and while the politicians were discuss-
ing the matter, the Californians met in convention, and
in September, 1849, formed a constitution excluding
slavery, and were admitted to the Union the following
year.

In 1867 the United States purchased from Russia
the territory of Alaska, the north-western corner of
the North American continent, separated from Asia
by Behrings Straits, and bounded on the north by the
Polar Sea, and on the south by the Pacific Ocean.

CHAP. XLIL— DEVELOPMENT OF THE
REPUBLICS.

(jED RAZ I L had quietly slipped, as we have seen, out
<y^ of colonial bondage, and gradually modified her
institutions to suit her new condition. She escaped
the fearful warfare with the parent country, by which
the other colonies were desolated. Her internal
disputes have been few, and not ferocious. From
the interference of neighbouring States, trying to
promote insurrection, she has had some trouble ;
and one long war with Paraguay grew out of that
fruitful source of dissension — disputed territory. Her
progress, though not rapid, has been satisfactory ;
and during late years increasing. She has now an
improving trade, about fifteen thousand miles of
railway open for traffic, and more under construction,
and about four thousand miles of telegraph. The
Roman Catholic is the established religion, but all
others are tolerated.

338 Stories of American History.

The Emperor, Dom Pedro II., left at five years of
age under tutors and governors, was, at the age of
sixteen, crowned Emperor, and at eighteen married.
In 1853 the importation of slaves from Africa was
forbidden. In 1871 an act for the gradual manumission
of slaves was passed, and under that act, by govern-
ment aid and private generosity, the gift of freedom has
been rapid rather than gradual. Dom Pedro II. is
judicious and practical, patient to observe, and anxious
to learn, welcoming emigrants, and encouraging the
arts of peace. In 1876-7 he visited the United States
and the continent of Europe, extending his tour to
Egypt and Syria.

Following the history of Chili and Peru down to
the present time is no agreeable repetition of the old
story of wars and violence. For centuries before the
Spaniards landed in Peru, the natives had used a
peculiar substance called " guano " as a fertiliser, and
the use of it in South America has never ceased. It
was not till 1841 that it was introduced into England.
Since that time the annual importation into England
alone has risen from about three thousand to three
hundred thousand tons. It has been a source of great
wealth to Peru, and of great misery to the "coolies"
inveigled to the Chincha Islands and other places to
dig and load it.

Development of the Republics. 339

In 1863 there was a quarrel on a Peruvian estate
between some Spanish emigrants and native labourers.
The next year a Spanish fleet came out, demanding
indemnity for injury to Spanish subjects, and seized the
Chincha Islands. Ineffectual attempts were made to
settle the matter by treaty. Peru was excited, Chili
sided with Peru, and in 1866 another Spanish fleet
came out. Valparaiso, in Chili, was shelled, and great
mischief was done. The fleet then moved on to
Callao, and the commander warned the inhabitants to
retire to Lima, as he intended to burn their town. But
the ships and batteries of Callao gave him a thorough
beating, and in five hours he and his ships were driven
off. The 2nd of May, on which this happened, has
since been kept as a holiday by the Peruvians in Callao.

The history of Peru has been one continued series of
revolutions. In 1872, just as a National Exhibition
had been arranged, there was a terrible one. Tomas
Guttierez, the Minister of War in President Balta's
Cabinet, set on foot an insurrection, and the President
was shot in his bed by a file of soldiers. Guttierez
proclaimed himself Dictator, and for four days murder
and terror reigned. His two brothers were with him in
the plot. One of them in command of a fort was shot,
and the garrison then sided with the infuriated people.
Another brother was killed by them, and the Dictator

340 Stories of American History.

of a day was himself hunted to his house and found
hiding in a bath. Shots and blows were showered
upon him till long after he was dead. Two of the dead
bodies were hung for a time from the cathedral tower,
and on the next day the remains of the three brothers
were burned together. Such ferocity leaves only the
hope that the British and other Europeans and the
North Americans, who are drawn to these countries by
their mineral and other wealth, may create a better
spirit. Indeed, such a change has already begun.
Foreigners are protected by their respective govern-
ments. Foreign capital and enterprise furnish em-
ployment, and the building of railroads and other
improvements is teaching people to work. Unfortu-
nately, for obvious reasons, the upper classes are
alienated from the Church, and have lost the restraint
of religion. The ladies, without the advantages of
good education, though devout up to their knowledge,
are too inert to exert themselves. They are beautiful
and lively when young, but sink into dulness and
apathy in their hot climate.

Of the Republic of Chili there was, until recently,
less to tell than of some others. The people have
been fairly steady to their own government, though
aggressive against their neighbours. The chief
domestic events, other than those of a pleasant

Development of the Republics. 34 1

character, have been earthquakes and a fearful casualty
at Santiago. On the 8th of December, 1863, tne eve
of the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, when the
Jesuits' church was perfectly full, chiefly of women,
some of the decorations took fire. The flames spread,
the frightened women crowded up the doors, and no
less than two thousand were killed, being either
burned or trampled to death.

The Chilians are terrible enemies. Probably
their very loyalty to their own government makes
them formidable to others. They have more energy
than the residents nearer the Equator. There were
of course territorial disputes, and out of these grew
a war with Bolivia. A secret treaty between Bolivia
and Peru brought the latter into the quarrel. War
was waged by sea and land. The Chilians invaded
Bolivia in the beginning of 1880, pressed on to Peru,
and, in January 1881, occupied the Peruvian capital,
Lima ; and, indeed, the whole country. There they
are still (1882) demanding terms of peace so severe
that Peru could not comply if she would, and remains
helpless at the mercy of her conqueror. The Chilians
were resisted step by step. Fierce battles on both
sides were lost and won, towns sacked, and the country
desolated. The government of the United States has
tried in vain to act as umpire.

CHAP. XLIII.— ARGENTINE CONFEDERA-
TION. WAR WITH PARAGUAY.

1835—1870.

<££.

fN the Argentine Confederation, Buenos Ayres is
naturally the leading State. It comprises, in the
first place, the city from which it takes its name, and a
few other cities, centres of population. Beyond these
is an immense plain, one hundred and eighty miles in
breadth, which is for one half of the year covered with
clover, and the other half with enormous thistles.
These grow up in the summer, and in the autumn all
die, and their hard, dry stems rattle one against
another till they are broken down and carried away
by hurricanes. Beyond is another great plain, full of
salt lakes, with the plants that love salt ; and then the
Andes begin to rise. Tribes of Indians dwell in the
far interior, and the Guachos, or people of mixed blood,
are scattered about at intervals in the Pampas, or
plains of thistle and clover. Huge herds of wild

Argentine Confederation. 343

cattle and of horses roam on these plains, and the
lives of the Guachos are spent in catching them.
Enclosures, called corrals, are arranged, into which the
Guachos, who are desperate riders, chase the animals,
riding along beside them at full speed. Then with a
lasso, or long cord with a sliding noose, they contrive to
entangle one at a time, and to throw it down without
injury. If the creature be young and not immediately
wanted, this is done for the purpose of branding with
the owner's initials, and it is let go again. If a horse,
it is kept to be broken in, used, or exported. The
cattle are killed and boiled down for the sake of the
tallow, which, with the hides, furnishes the chief article
of export. Much of the meat is wasted, and fences
are made of bullock's bones. Nobody could be wilder
and more ignorant than the Guacho. Though bap-
tized, he has little of the Christian about him, and
places superstitious trust in some favourite image of a
saint, or in a relic worn like a charm.

Lawless and brave men like these are sure to be
ready for any disturbance, and thus Buenos Ayres
became embroiled with Brazil. There were attempts
made to spread republican feeling in the contiguous
Brazilian province of Rio Grande, and this led to a
war in which the Brazilian fleet blockaded Buenos
Ayres for a year and a half. Then the English

344 Stories of American History.

Government interfered, and peace was made in 1828;
but this only left the Argentine provinces free to make
war upon each other.

At last a successful general, named Juan Manuel
Ortiz de Rosas, became governor or dictator of his
native province, Buenos Ayres, and in 1835, President
of the Argentine Confederation. His was a reign of
terror, which is still recollected with horror and dismay.
He had a band of Guachos in his service, whom he
sent forth to stab or shoot any who were obnoxious to
him or to his favourites, or else to bring them before
him, when, after a pretence at trial by court martial,
he had them shot. No one dared to disobey his
orders, as, for instance, when he decreed that all
houses should be coloured red, and every one wear
the same colour as a token of loyalty to the republic.
The effect of the glare of the hot sunshine is said to
have been to increase the violence and ferocity of
natures already too cruel.

Rosas made war with the two States of Paraguay
and Uruguay to compel them to join the Argentine
Confederation. This involved war with Brazil, and
England and France joined to repress him. While
the fleet of Rosas was besieging Monte Video, it was
captured by the allies, and the navigation of the River
Parana thrown open to all nations.

Argentine Confederation. 345

After this the English and French fleets returned
home in 1848-49. But Brazil continued the war,
while Rosas resisted fiercely, and kept down all
opposition at home by his savage band of assassins.
But in 1851 he was totally defeated by General Juste
Jose Urquiza, commanding the troops of Brazil, Para-
guay, and Uruguay at the battle of Monte Caseros ;
and being hard pushed, he was obliged to flee to Eng-
land, where he spent the rest of his life as a refugee.

Urquiza became Dictator of the Argentine Con-
federation. But in 1852, General Bartoleme Mitre
came forward as a leader in a movement of Buenos
Ayres against Urquiza, which resulted in the separa-
tion of Buenos Ayres from the confederation ; though
Urquiza continued to wage war against the revolted
province. General Mitre was chosen Governor of
Buenos Ayres when, in 1860, that State returned to
the confederacy; and in 1862, when the Confedera-
tion was first called a Republic, he was elected
President. Mitre was an educated, sensible, and
enlightened ruler. He did all in his power to im-
prove the republic by opening schools, finding new
employments, beginning railways, and encouraging
English and Germans to settle in the country, and
bring industry with them. Trade and commerce in-
creased. Sheep were introduced into the Pampas,

346 Stories of American History.

and some efforts made to bring those vast plains
under cultivation.

The Republic of Paraguay had prospered under its
Dictator, Dr. Jose Caspar Rodriguez Francia, who
died in 1840, over eighty years of age. For nearly
thirty years he had been absolute Dictator. His
policy was complete isolation, and it was next to
impossible for a foreigner to get into Paraguay, or out
if once in. Travellers published books calling Fran-
cia's rule a " Reign of Terror," but under it Paraguay
flourished. Dr. Francia was succeeded by his two
nephews as consuls, one of whom, in 1844, was made
Dictator. Dying in 1862, he was succeeded by his son,
Don Francisco Solano Lopez, who managed to become
embroiled with three of his neighbours at once.

In the little State of Uruguay party dissensions
broke out into civil war. Unfortunately the son of
President Florez was identified with the faction op-
posed to his father. He held a command in the army.
Visiting his father in the palace, he had an altercation
with him, and, following hard words, the son struck
his father in the face, ran from the palace to the
barracks, led out his regiment, and marched his com-
mand through the streets, making seditious shouts.
A Monte Video paper, commenting on this transac-
tion, called it, " his son striking him out of an excess

Argentine Confederation. 347

of filial love." The seditious movement was almost
instantly suppressed. But President Florez was a
few days later murdered in the streets by a band of
masked assassins. Indeed, such was the frequency of
murder in those lands, that there is a monument in
Buenos Ayres to a man who, the epitaph says, was
" assassinated by his friends."

Brazil intervened in the quarrel in Uruguay.
Lopez, Dictator of Paraguay, demanded that Dom
Pedro should withdraw his troops from that republic.
Brazil refused, and Lopez proceeded to settle dis-
puted boundaries by armed occupation, and to seize
Brazilian provinces. In his aggressions on Brazil he
crossed Argentine territory. The Argentines pro-
tested, and Lopez made war upon them. The first
intelligence of the war at Buenos Ayres was the news
of the capture by Lopez of two Argentine vessels.
The people of Buenos Ayres paraded the streets in
great excitement, with cries of " Down with Para-
guay ! " President Mitre took advantage of the
popular fury ; the Argentine Republic joined with
Brazil, and Uruguay came also into the alliance.
Paraguay was invaded in 1866, and for four years
made desperate resistance. The Guaranis, among
the soldiers of Lopez, were distinguished for wild
courage. Volunteers were accepted, and conscripts

348 Stories of American History.

drawn of all ages between twelve and seventy. Even
women, it is said, bore arms, disguised as men. It is
computed that nine-tenths of the Paraguayans lost
their lives in the struggle. The war ended with the
life of Solano Lopez, who was defeated at the battle
of Aquidaban, in March, 1870. He was shot while
attempting to swim the river, and the remains of his
army surrendered. His last words were, " I die for
my country." His love of country is undisputed; but
his idea of patriotism was unhappily controlled by his
grasping personal ambition. His rule was despotic.
Over his own people he was arbitrary and cruel ; he
imprisoned members of Foreign Legations ; and only
the timely arrival of war vessels from the United
States saved some members of the mission from that
country. They were accused, together with other
foreigners and certain leading Paraguayans, of con-
spiracy. The latter suffered torture and death.

Brave little Paraguay, exhausted by external foes
and internal suffering, gave way when she had no
more a leader. The rivers which her dictators had so
jealously guarded were opened. A large portion of
her area was surrendered, and for several years
Brazilian troops occupied portions of her territory.
She is now nominally independent, though really
under Brazilian control.

Argentine Confederation. 349

Disputed possessions have been the fruitful cause
of wars in South America. The regions at the ex-
treme south, inhabited by about thirty thousand Pata-
gonians, still free and unsubdued, long an open ques-
tion between Chili and the Argentine Republic, have
been ceded to the latter. Practically the wild lands
of Patagonia and the Tierra del Fuego islands have
been left to their natives, except for the brave and
self- devoted attempt of Allen Gardiner, an English
naval officer, who endeavoured to begin a mission for
their instruction in the Christian faith. He was to
have supplies sent to him, but these failed him, and
he and his companions all perished from cold and
hunger. Allen Gardiner's body was found in an open
boat at Picton Island, in the Straits of Magellan, with
a diary by his side, full to the very last of expressions
of faith, hope, love, and even joy.

CHAP. XLIV.— NORTH AND SOUTH.

1848—1859.

tHE slavery question was becoming more and
more an anxious matter in the United States.
At one time the Northerners, though unwilling to be
slave owners themselves, had been willing to defend
the institution ; or, at least, to argue that its disposition
was reserved to the States in which it existed, secure
from interference by the terms of the Union. But a
feeling in favour of abolition was spreading more and
more ; and statesmen could not but see that the pre-
ponderance of either — the party of freedom or the
upholders of slavery— could not satisfy the minority.
The question became a political one. In the moral
aspects of the subject, also, the nation was being in-
structed. Lectures were delivered, sermons preached,
and books written, showing up the evils of slavery in
the strongest light, and winning over numbers to an
active course, who had hitherto preserved an attitude

North and South. 351

of silent disapproval. Among the books written was/
" Uncle Tom's Cabin," by Mrs. Harriet Beecher
Stowe. It had, and still has, a world-wide circulation,
and has been translated into several languages. In;
the heat of controversy and the zeal of partisanship,
it was impossible that special instances of cruelty
and hardship should not have been represented as
types of the general condition of things. Had the
slaves, as a class, seen their own case in the light that
the free men of the north regarded it in, there would
have been, when war opened, such an uprising of the
bondmen as would have given the masters enough to
do at home, without warring against the North. No
such uprising took place. The slaves, as a body, re-
mained apathetic. No outrage or violence is laid to
their charge. If this was in part due to their ignor-
ance, more is due to their docile and affectionate
nature. Slaves, during the war, carried on the planta-
tions, and ministered to the families of masters who
were in the field fighting to retain the institution. If
there is in this something due to the honour of the
slaves, so is there to the masters. Slavery in the
United States has now been for twenty years a thing
of the past ; and the dispassionate observer has had
time to admit that in the American Union it did not
exist in its worst form, undisputed as were its evils.

352 Stories of American History.

Slaves who could escape found friends in the North
who assisted them to fly from the miseries of being
returned. The usual fate of captured fugitives was to
be sold into labour the most severe, in tracts from
which escape was impossible, and into a condition
where the amenities of mutual confidence could not
exist. The slave "catchers" had no pity on those
who stole themselves, hunted them down with blood-
hounds, shot them in the chase, and would nearly as
soon shoot an abolitionist as a mad dog. Of course
such extreme measures as these could only be prac-
tised in the swamps and deserts of the slave States.
In the free border States the runaways were often
"kidnapped," their pursuers finding aid from mean
and mercenary fellows of the baser sort. These
abettors of the kidnappers were held in huge contempt
at the North ; and it is only justice to say that at the
South the professional slave-catchers were despised,
even by those whom they served, though the preser-
vation of the system compelled their employment.

The constitution of the United States provides that
no person held to service or labour in one State, es-
caping into another, shall be discharged, but must
be delivered up on claim of the party to whom such
service is due. The legal construction of this article
compelled the courts at the North to decide that

North and Soitth. 353

a slave owner might pursue his property even into a
free State. The abolitionists arranged what was called
the Underground Railway, namely, the designation of
families, at intervals, from the slave line to the Cana-
dian frontier, who would shelter, hide, and pass on the
runaways till they were safe on British ground. In
1820, the American Colonization Society founded
a colony in Africa, called Liberia. The members of
the society comprise Southern as well as Northern
men. To this colony such slaves were transported as
were manumitted by their masters, or released by pur-
chase ; the emigration being voluntary. The emigra-
tion still continues, so far as the liberality of the
friends of the colony will admit. These Liberians
have so far prospered, the colonists being among the
best of their race. The present population of Liberia
is about twenty thousand of the colonial stock, and
over seven hundred thousand aborigines. It is now
an independent republic, and so acknowledged ; and
though the colony has exercised no perceptible effect
in diminishing the blacks in America, it promises great
good to the Negroes on their own ground.

In the discussion of the question of slavery there
were many good men at the South who honestly held
that it would be cruel to turn so many dull and help-
less creatures loose to provide for themselves, without

23

354 Stories of American History.

having trained them. And there were wise men in
the North, who wished to devise some plan by which
the slaves might gradually be enabled to deserve and
earn their liberty, as each became able to attain it.
But unfortunately there were such party questions and
sectional jealousies mixed up with the subject that
neither North nor South could think or work it out
clearly, and every wrong done on either side inflamed
people's minds.

The far West, in the mean time, was being settled.
The admission of California, without slavery, met with
earnest opposition from the Southern interest. Other
perplexing questions arose, and a solution of all was
attempted by the great statesman often called " The
Great Compromiser," Henry Clay. He introduced in
the Senate a series of measures, popularly called " The
Omnibus Bill," which, after exciting debate, was sub-
stantially adopted. The most important provisions
were : California was admitted as a free State ; Utah
and New Mexico were erected into territories, admit-
ting slavery or not, as they chose ; the slave markets
were abolished in the district of Columbia, in which
Washington is situated ; and a law was passed pro-
viding under-officers — and by commissioners appointed
by the United States — for the recovery and return of
fugitive slaves. This last matter had hitherto been

North and South. 355

left to the State authorities. As a compromise, this was
better than most compromises. Utah, New Mexico,
and much of California (under the arrangement by
which the State of Missouri was admitted in 1821),
were slave territory, in which, the South claimed,
slavery already existed without special enactment.
This claim was surrendered. The slave marts in
the city of Washington had made the capital of the
nation a man -market. These were closed. The
fugitive slave law was all that the North was called
on to concede. But while it created violent oppo-
sition on moral grounds, it made matters no worse for
the fugitives. Northern men were moreover indig-
nant that they were required under the provisions of
this law to aid the officers when called on to assist
in the capture of slaves. Practically this amounted to
nothing, since no one heeded it except such as were
ready to aid the slave-catchers before.

At Utah, near the Great Salt Lake, a strange
colony settled in 1847, having been driven out of
Illinois. They had aimed to go beyond the territory
of the United States, but were included by the cession
from Mexico as part of California. In 1 8 16, an in-
valid preacher, named Solomon Spalding, died in
Pennsylvania. He left the manuscript of a romance,
in which he professed to describe the fortunes, in

356 Stories of American History.

America, of the lost tribes of Israel. The book was
written in chapters and verses, like the Bible. One
Joseph Smith adapted and corrupted this, and in 1830
began, on this foundation, the Mormon delusion.
Smith was killed while under arrest in Illinois.
Brigham Young, who succeeded Smith as prophet,
introduced the plurality of wives into the system. As
this could not be permitted in any Christian country,
Young carried the people he had deluded into what
was then a desolate wilderness ; but he showed such
ability in irrigating and cultivating it, that the spot
became exceedingly beautiful and fertile. For a time
so many persons among the ignorant and easily-
deluded in Europe and America were ready to follow
his emissaries, that he seemed to be going to set up
a power like Mahometanism. But after a few years
the infection ceased, as it became known that there
was a cruel tyranny in Utah against all who presumed
to differ from the prophet. Now that the great Pacific
Railway crosses the territory, which is on the high-
way to California, there are over seven hundred miles
of railways in Utah ; Salt Lake City is the terminus of
three. The " Gentiles," as the Mormons call the rest
of the world, are crowding the " Latter Day Saints," as
they term themselves ; five or more Christian denomi-
nations have missions and churches in the very citadel

North and South. 357

of Mormonism ; the United States Government is
employing repressive measures; emigrant parties of
the deluded are becoming few and far between, and
many children of Mormons are receiving Christian
instruction. Since Young died, in 1877, his followers
seem to be diminishing. Polygamist delegates are
excluded from Congress, but though the delusion
perish, and the seat of the high priest of polygamy
remain vacant, the beautiful Salt Lake City of Utah
will remain as its memorial, when the name "Deseret,"
as the Mormons call their country, is forgotten.

In 1853, the peace which had been made by Clay's
"Omnibus Bill" was broken. The " Kansas Ne-
braska " Bill was passed, by which two Territories
north of the slave line were created, with permission
to have slavery or not, as they chose. The North
said this was a violation of the Missouri compact.
The South said that the compact was broken already
by free California. Kansas became the battle-ground.
The question of slavery was to be decided by the
majority of the settlers. So each side struggled hard
to get the most in, and keep the others out. Kansas
borders on Missouri, and the slave interest was made
odious by a set of fierce men, who earned the title of
Missouri Ruffians. They invaded Kansas by vio-
lence to keep out or intimidate free settlers, using

358 Stories of American History.

freely their revolvers and bowie-knives, and making
the direct way to Kansas, through the State of Mis-
souri, impassable. There were two hostile camps in
Kansas, actually fighting, and " Bleeding Kansas "
was a familiar cry. John Brown, of Ossawotamie, of
pilgrim Puritan descent, was, with his four sons, among
the foremost on the free side. Once, with sixteen
men, he beat off several hundred Missouri marauders,
who had burned villages newly settled by Northerners.
Settlements being broken up, each side lived by plun-
dering the other, and used to talk of a pro-slavery
horse, or an anti-slavery cow. The two rival parties,
free and slave, each held a convention and prepared
a constitution. Neither went into operation, and
Kansas did not enter the Union as a Free State till
1 86 1, after the Secessionists had withdrawn from Con-
gress and war had begun. It is not surprising that
Kansas contributed a larger proportion of her popula-
tion to the Union army than any other State.
Nebraska was admitted in 1867.

Two events increased the excitement, and aided to
precipitate the crisis. A Negro in Missouri, named
Dred Scott, brought a suit in 1857 for his freedom, on
the ground that, having resided in a free State with
his master, he could not be remanded to slavery. This
plea was in accordance with all practice and precedent ;

North and South. 359

the Constitution requiring that fugitives should be
delivered up, not that the free States should defend
the claims of masters over slaves whom they them-
selves carried into places where slavery was illegal.
If " Dred " had refused to return, he could not have
been compelled. The Supreme Court of the United
States dismissed the case for want of jurisdiction.
Dred remained a slave. The Chief Justice, Taney,
added opinions which, as he had dismissed the case,
sound lawyers pronounced extra judicial — namely, that,
as inferior beings, Negroes have no rights "which a
white man is bound to respect," and that the Missouri
compromise was unconstitutional. Whether the judge's
opinion had official weight or not, it had immense
influence on the adverse side of the slavery issue, and
added to the growing excitement.

Another cause of anger at the South and perplexity
at the North was the misdirected zeal of the famous
Kansas partisan, John Brown. While the troubles in
that territory were still rife, he undertook to raise the
standard of insurrection in Virginia, and to lead the
slaves against their masters. With a handful of men
he seized the United States Arsenal at Harper's Ferry,
whence he meant to supply arms for the slaves ; but
there was no sign of an insurrection, and within
twenty-four hours Brown and his party of twenty-two

360 Stories of American History.

were virtually prisoners in the arsenal. Fifteen
hundred militiamen and a detachment of United
States troops soon arrived in the village, and the
party fought desperately against such fearful odds.
Nearly every one was killed or wounded. Among the
former was a son of Brown's, and among the latter
John Brown himself and another son. He was tried
by the Virginia authorities, condemned, and executed
December 29, 1859 ; and six of his companions were
hung at a later day. With the knowledge from the
history of Haiti, and other instances, of what a servile
insurrection may mean, there were few who could
dispute the legality of these sentences. John Brown
was a man of superior mind, of high courage, and no
doubt intended to prevent violence and cruelty ; but
he tried what was impossible. His captors and judges
testified to his courage, fortitude, simple ingenuousness,
integrity, and truth ; and a witness of his execution,
himself a slaveholder, said, "When I meet death, I
hope it will be with the composure and fortitude of
John Brown." Still, as in the case of many other
martyrs to their convictions, it must be said that he
was a fanatic, who pursued his purpose regardless of
the evil of his methods. On his way to the gallows
he displayed a personal characteristic by kissing a
Negro child, held up to him by the slave mother.

CHAP. XLV.— SECESSION.

1860—1861.

§N the seventy-two years from the adoption of the
Constitution in 1788 to 1860, there had been
fifteen Presidents of the United States — Washington,
John Adams, Jefferson, Madison, Monroe, John Quincy
Adams, Jackson, Van Buren, Harrison — who, dying in
his term, was succeeded by Vice-President Tyler — Polk,
Taylor — whose death gave place to Fillmore — Pierce,
and Buchanan. The election, in 1860, of a successor
to Buchanan, was made in a time when party spirit
was running very high. From the time of the adoption
of the Constitution, the question underlying all others
was the question of "State Rights" — that is to say, how
far the sovereignty of the single State in the Union is
affected by the Federal compact. South Carolina, in
1832, asserted the right of a single State to "nullify"
the Acts of Congress. From this extreme position she
was forced to recede ; but State Rights became more

362 Stories of American History.

and more a Southern idea, since the subject of slavery
was affected by it. In the North, the Federal, or
Union sentiment was the stronger ; in the South,
loyalty to the State in which a citizen resided. The
Northern Democrats acted with the South. The party
afterward known as Republicans came into power, as
against the Democrats, on this issue.

But the positions assumed by the Southerners created
a division of opinion among the Democrats themselves.
The Missouri Compromise of 1820 forbade slavery
beyond a certain line. The Compromise broken, the
Northern Democrats maintained that slavery might be
established, in new territories, by the choice of the
settlers. The Southern Democrats maintained that
slavery did exist, as a natural and political law, until
abolished by legislation. The Northern Democrats
apologised for slavery, and even defended it, to preserve
State Rights in the Union. The Southern defended
slavery for itself, and sought to break up the Union,
to perpetuate it, and to maintain ultra views of State
sovereignty.

Thus, the Democrats were divided, while the
Republicans held together, and elected as President
Abraham Lincoln, of Illinois, an able, sensible, honest
man, who had worked himself up in the world from
very small beginnings. He had been a boatman, a

Secession. 363

rail-splitter, or fence-maker, a shopkeeper, and a sur-
veyor. During all the time of these occupations he
was a student, and settled at last upon the profession
of the law, and was admitted to the Bar. Like many
country lawyers in the United States, he figured as a
political orator ; and the republication of his speeches,
after his nomination as President, greatly helped his
election. He had held a seat in the Legislature of
his own State, and in Congress. He was known to
disapprove of slavery, but to see the difficulties of
emancipation, and to think that, though the slave
States could not, under the Constitution, be disturbed,
Congress ought to forbid the bringing of slavery into'
the territories. In the hot feelings of the Southerners,
they reckoned him as the enemy of their interests.
They knew he would uphold the power of the Central
Government as opposed to that of individual States ;
and, as nothing but self-interest could make slavery
seem right, that they would be the losers, unless they
legislated for themselves. The planters in South
Carolina were sure that the other slave-holding States
would back them in any opposition to the North, and
decided on their course.

Lincoln's election took place in November, 1860,
and in December the South Carolina Convention met
at Charleston, and repealed its acceptance of the United

364 Stories of American History.

States Constitution, declaring the secession of the State
from the Union amid public rejoicings. The same
thing was done in the States of Mississippi, Florida,
Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas, and the
seceding States agreed to join in a Southern Con-
federacy, and to elect a President and Vice- President
of their own. Jefferson Davis, of Mississippi, was
chosen President, and Alexander H. Stephens, of
Georgia, Vice- President ; and slavery was boldly
declared by him to be the corner-stone of the new
Confederation, since it was said to be a divine decree
that the lower races of men should be in bondage to
the higher.

Though the election had taken place, President
Buchanan would not go out of office till March, 1861,
and he ought to have taken vigorous measures, but
the Secretary of War, Floyd, a Virginian, who had
practically the command of the army, had liberally
distributed the national military stores to the Southern
arsenals, leaving the Northern unprovided. These,
with the ships at Southern Navy Yards, were seized
by the Secessionists. Major Robert Anderson, of the
United States army, in command of Fort Sumter, in
Charleston Harbour, asked for reinforcements, and was
refused.

When President Lincoln entered upon his office in

Secession. 365

March, he declared that he had no wish to meddle with
slavery ; but he also said that secession was rebellion,
and this, together with a refusal of the Secretary of
State to recognize the official position of the Southern
Confederacy, was the signal for war. On the nth of
April, Major Anderson was summoned by General
Beauregard, at the head of a large force of volunteers,
to give up Fort Sumter. On his refusal, he was fired
upon. He held out two days, but he had only eighty
men, and his powder was almost gone; so he was
forced to surrender, marching out with the honours of
war, and spending his last powder in a salute to the
Stripes and Stars. Not a man had been hurt on
either side ; but the cannon that had been fired
showed that each party was in earnest, and that the
country must now prepare itself for the miseries of a
civil war. The central States had to choose sides. ^
The Virginians, who were proud of Washington's
work, were loth to upset it. But they had slaves, and
likewise cared for State Rights ; so they joined the
Secession, as did Arkansas, North Carolina, and
Tennessee, though in all these States there were some
persons unwilling to break up the Union. Richmond,
in Virginia, was made the seat of the Southern, or
Confederate, Government. Washington was, of course,
coveted by both parties, but the Federals, or men of

366 Stories of American History.

the North, were able to garrison it, and it was defended
by earthworks and a large body of troops.

Nobody was really prepared for war. The United
States had always kept a small standing army, with
officers carefully trained at the Military School at
West Point. These officers had gained experience in
the Mexican war, and were now pretty equally divided
between the North and South, according to their
homes, and their political opinions. Under them were
the Volunteers and Militia, called from their ordinary
work, needing drill to be made into soldiers. There
was plenty of stout courage and high spirit, and each
side had the fullest confidence in its right, but neither
had any training ; and, on the whole, the Southerners at
the outset were the fiercer and the stronger men. But
it was a great disadvantage to them that they had not
much power of manufacturing, and still less of ship-
building ; while the Northern navy, though only at
first consisting of four available ships at home, was
soon increased enough to blockade their seaports.
Moreover, the labouring classes at the South were all
slaves, with interests contrary to their masters, while
the North could draw on its whole population for
soldiers. The only wonder was that the Southern
slaves did not add to the horrors of the war by
cruelties to the helpless families of their masters, but

Secession.

367

retained their submissive habits, and in many cases
showed all the best points of the Negro nature, in kind-
liness or faithfulness. On the whole, European sym-
pathy went largely to the South ; for the Federals
were accused of making the slavery question a cover
for their desire to crush " State Right ; " and their
scornful loathing of the Negro was cast up against
them as a sign that they could not be sincere.

CHAP. XLVL— THE WAR OF SECESSION.

1861—1862.

tHE boundary between the Confederate States and
those which adhered to the Union was formed by
the Northern State lines of Virginia, Tennessee, Ar-
kansas, and Texas. The great object of the Federals
was to cross this boundary, overrun the country, and
reduce it to submission. In Western Virginia, where
there were many Union men, General George B.
McClellan succeeded in driving out the Confederates,
and the district was afterwards separated from the old
State, and admitted, under the name of Western Vir-
ginia, as a free State into the Union. Next an attempt
was made to advance upon Richmond, the capital both
of the State of Virginia and of the New Confederation.
This led to the first serious battle of the war, that of
Bull Run, July 21, 1861. The forces engaged were
estimated at thirty thousand on each side. It was in
this fight that one of the Southern leaders, pointing to

The War of Secession. 369

another officer's division, called out, " There's Jackson,
standing like a stone wall ; " and as the name Jackson
was not uncommon, this dashing, daring officer was
always after distinguished as " Stonewall Jackson."
At three o'clock the South was in great danger ; but
the Northerners were exhausted, and a fresh body of
their enemies coming up totally routed them. Nor
was the Confederate army in a condition to follow up
its success. The Union soldiers, who had no training,
could not retreat in order, but fell back on Washington,
like a disorderly mob. " Don't stop me, sir, I'm quite
demoralized," cried a man in newspaper language to
his officer.

Three months after Bull Run, the Unionists met
a sad blow at Ball's Bluff, on the Potomac. A detach-
ment of the Union army, crossing the river at that
point, was routed and driven back with a loss of eight
hundred men. These events showed the North that
the South was a terrible enemy, and there was a great
muster of men from every quarter and occupation.
The women arranged excellent plans for nursing and
feeding the wounded, and sending supplies of warm
clothing and extra rations of food to the camps. Even
the little girls at school made " comfort bags/' holding
a few things that each man might be glad to have,
such as warm cuffs, a handkerchief, a few needles and

24

370 Stories of American History.

some thread, a little book, or card, with scripture text.
A national Sanitary Commission was created, and
with the Young Men's Christian Commission systema-
tized and directed the efforts of individuals. Volunteer
nurses of both sexes went to the camps and visited the
hospitals. Soldiers on their march to the scene of war
were hospitably entertained in the cities, and returning
men on furlough or sick leave were cared for. Indeed,
there never was a war marked by so much effort to
lessen its horrors, and by so little wanton cruelty ; for
however confident each side might be in its cause,
there was hardly a man who had not friends in the
opposite party. It was felt that the contention was
between brethren.

There were in 1862 fearful battles for the possession
of Richmond. General McClellan, after his successes
in Western Virginia, had been appointed to the com-
mand of the Army of the Potomac. His advanced
guard approached within six miles of the capital of the
Confederacy in May. It was attacked and driven back,
but being reinforced, pushed the Confederates into
Richmond. After two months' inactivity, McClellan
undertook to change his base, and approach Rich-
mond in another direction. Then at the end of June
followed the engagements known as the " Seven Days'
Battles of the Peninsula," in which, it is said, a hun-

The IVar of Secession. 371

dred thousand men were engaged on each side, and
the loss of each was fifteen thousand men. In the last
of these battles, that of Malvern Hill, July i, the Con-
tederates were defeated.

General Robert E. Lee, a Virginian by birth, a
graduate of West Point, an officer in the United States
service, a hero of the Mexican war, who held the
confidence of General Scott, and was summoned to
Washington at the commencement of the difficulty for
consultation, resigned at the critical moment, and went
over to the rebellion. His devotion to his State
mastered other considerations. He proved to be a
dashing soldier yet a good strategist, with more enter-
prise than McClellan, who was sometimes hesitating
and always cautious, but to whom, for the drilling and
discipline of the Army of the Potomac, the Union
owed much.

General McClellan was relieved of a portion of his
command, and General John Pope appointed com-
mander of what was termed the Army of Virginia,
occupying the northern part of the State. General
Lee threw the chief of his force against Pope, and on
the i Qth and 2Oth of August the Union army suffered
a disastrous defeat at Manasses, or Bull Run, where
the first great battle occurred. General Pope retired
within the lines of defence near Washington, and was

372 Stories of American History.

transferred, at his own request, to another command.
He had been very successful in Western engagements,
but the fortune of war was against him in Virginia.
General Lee, early in September, crossed over into
Maryland. General McClellan, who had been re-
instated in his former command, followed him. Closely
pressed by the Union forces, and failing to find the
sympathy in Maryland for which he hoped, and to
which he appealed, General Lee made a stand at South
Mountain. After a hard fought engagement he was
defeated, and fell back to the Potomac. Here took
place one of the great battles of the war, called the
Battle of Antietam, from the name of a creek which
enters the Potomac. After two days of skirmishing,
on the 1 7th of September the bloody but indecisive
battle was fought. The Union army kept possession
of the field, but General Lee with his army crossed the
Potomac, into Virginia. One hundred and fifty thou-
sand men on both sides were engaged, and the loss,
including that at South Mountain, was more than four-
teen thousand on the Union and twelve on the Con-
federate side. The troops engaged in the Union army
far outnumbered their enemies, and much dissatisfac-
tion was expressed at Lee's escape. But the Battle of
Antietam was so far a success that President Lincoln
took a step which he had delayed until a propitious

The War of Secession. 373

time, when it would not be considered an indication of
despair. On September 22nd, as a war measure, by
virtue of his position as Commander-in-Chief of the
Army and Navy of the United States, he issued a
warning proclamation that all slaves should be declared
free in the States in rebellion, on January i, 1863.

On the 7th of November General McClellan was
superseded by General Ambrose E. Burnside. A new
advance on Richmond was attempted. General Burn-
side on December i3th, attacked Fredericksburg, but
was repulsed with heavy loss by General Lee. It was
a desperate battle, in which the Union army lost over
twelve thousand men in killed, wounded, and missing.
At a previous period in the war, Burnside, serving
under McClellan, had occupied Fredericksburg, and
been compelled to retreat, and the two events are some-
times confounded. The Union army, after the serious
battle of Fredericksburg, fell back to the vicinity of
Washington. So closed, for 1862, active warfare in
the East.

Four of the slave-holding States never joined the
secession movement, though many of their citizens
were in sympathy with it. Missouri, one of these
States, was the scene of furious partisan warfare.
Kentucky claimed to be neutral, but neither party
would consent to this. A military post in the south-

374 Stories of American History.

western corner of the State was occupied but aban-
doned, and the wave of battle rolled on into Tennessee.
Western successes somewhat relieved the disasters at
the East, though there was an immense slaughter of
men and waste of property in more battles and en-
counters than there is space here to recite. General
Ulysses S. Grant, who had risen rapidly in command
by previous brave and skilful conduct, captured Fort
Donelson on the Tennessee river, with about thirteen
hundred prisoners. The fort surrendered February
1 6th, and as the only stipulation to which Grant would
assent was " unconditional surrender," the initials of his
name suggested Unconditional Surrender as the^opular
name for the General who had gained the first brilliant
and decisive success of the Federal arms. The battle
of Shiloh, or Pittsburg Landing, took place on the 6th
and 7th of April. It has been aptly called the " harvest
of death." On the first day the Confederate general,
Albert Sidney Johnston, was mortally wounded, and
the loss of each side in the two days is estimated at
near twelve thousand men. Beauregard succeeded
Johnston in command. Victory on the first day was
with the Confederates, who were the attacking party,
but on the next, General Grant having reformed his
lines and received heavy reinforcements, Beauregard
was forced to retreat.

The TVar of Secession. 375

The Navy of the United States, increased by build-
ing and buying vessels, was by this time so powerful
that the blockade of the southern parts was established
so far as so vast a line of sea-coast could be. Many
points on the coast were taken and occupied by the
Union forces. The harbour of Charleston, South
Carolina, was blocked up by a great bar of sunken
ships. England, France, Spain, and Portugal had
recognized the seceding States as having the rights
of belligerents ; and swift ships, which were called
" blockade runners," slipped past the Federal ships to
bring into the Southern ports goods which sold at a
very large price to make up for the risk. In April
Admiral D. G. Farragut, commander of the Gulf
blockading squadron, passed up the Mississippi, and,
despite of forts, batteries, gun-boats, and fire -rafts,
reached New Orleans on the 24th, and the city
surrendered. On his way he sunk or disabled six
rebel steamers. It was a daring exploit. General B.
F. Butler was put in command of the city. It was a
centre of slave-holding interests ; the inhabitants were
very violent, and insulted their victors. General
Butler was forced to keep up the strictest and sharpest
rule. He at once executed a man who cut down the
United States flag, and his manner was so blunt and
harsh that he was exceedingly hated and abused. But

376 Stories of American History.

he said, probably with truth, that if he had not been so
severe in silencing the people of New Orleans and
protecting his soldiers from insult, his army would
have been provoked into acts of revenge, and cruelty
would have really begun.

Farragut steamed up the Mississippi and bombarded
Vicksburg, the last stronghold of the Confederates on
that river. For the want of co-operation by land
forces the siege was for a time given up.

CHAP. XLVIL— THE WAR OF SECESSION.

1863—1864.

New Year's day, 1863, President Lincoln
issued his second proclamation confirming the
former one, and declaring all slaves in rebel states
free. Early in the war General Butler in Virginia
had declined to return escaped slaves to their masters.
If they were men, he could not give up fugitives or
deserters on demand of the enemy. If they were
property, they were " contraband of war." Contra-
band became through the war the designation of the
Southern Negroes. Those who were employed in the
Union camps were declared free, and this declaration
finally extended to all fugitive slaves. After this
coloured soldiers began to be regularly enlisted. It
was time. General Butler had found in New Orleans
some free coloured troops preparing for the Con-
federate service, and took them into the service of the
Union. Up to the time of the first proclamation

378 Stories of American History.

(September 22, 1862), the formation of coloured regi-
ments had not been much in favour. After that the
enlistment proceeded, and the coloured troops fought
well and were excellent in discipline.

The spring of 1863 was opened with what must be
classed among the most notable events of the war,
introducing into real work the terrible modern inven-
tions for making naval warfare more effective. At the
beginning of the contest, the United States forces had
been compelled to withdraw from the Norfolk Navy
Yard, destroying the ships and vessels as far as they
could. A blockading squadron was kept by the
United States in Hampton Roads. On the 8th of
March there came steaming out of the James River a
nondescript craft, which was said to look like a whale
boat, bottom up. It was an old war steamship, called
the Merrimac. Over her deck was a canopy fore and
aft of timber and railroad iron, and her bow was
furnished with a steel ram. She made sad havoc of
the blockading squadron, whose shot glanced from her
armour, while she was furnished with heavier guns
than had ever before been used on shipboard. She
sunk one vessel, burned another, and drove a third
aground, and then retired up the James River to refit.
That same evening there came into Hampton Roads
another nondescript, which looked " like a cheese-box

The IVar of Secession. 379

on a raft." It was the Monitor, an armour-clad
turret-ship, invented by John Ericson, an engineer
and naval architect, a citizen of the United States, of
Swedish birth. The Monitor was commanded by
Captain John L. Worder of the United States Navy.
When the Merrimac came out for a second day's work
she found an unexpected antagonist. The two vessels
fired at each other at short range for two hours without
much effect, till a shell thrown through a porthole of
the Merrimac forced her to retire, with many of her
crew killed or disabled.

In 1863 the campaign opened with a most disastrous
defeat of the Union troops. General John Hooker,
who had succeeded Burnside, advanced into Virginia,
taking a strong position at Chancellorsville. Here
he was attacked by " Stonewall " Jackson in May, and
on the 3rd a disastrous defeat compelled him to fall
back. The Union loss in this advance and retreat
was about seventeen thousand, including five thousand
prisoners ; the Confederate about twelve thousand, of
whom two thousand were prisoners. But the heaviest
loss to the Southerners was that of "Stonewall" Jackson,
who was shot on the night of the 2nd by his own men
in mistake.

Both sides were getting depressed and weary.
Volunteers in the North were used up by the terrible

380 Stories of American History.

slaughter of the battles, and men had to be drafted,
which occasioned great dissatisfaction, culminating in
the city of New York in a fearful riot. General Lee
thought it was a good time for another rush into the
North. He crossed the Potomac and advanced into
Pennsylvania, with all his available force, and on June
2;th had massed his army near Chambersburg. The
Union army moved north and concentrated at Gettys-
burg, a few miles distant. General George G. Meade,
who had succeeded Hooker in the command of the
army of the Potomac, having learned by an intercepted
letter that Lee could expect no reinforcements, offered
him battle and chose the ground. A frightful battle it
was, lasting the first three days of July, and covering
the field with forty thousand dead and wounded men.
Lee retreated, and the battle of Gettysburg was the
turning point of the war.

At the very time that this battle was being fought,
Vicksburg, the great Confederate stronghold on the
Mississippi, was being surrendered to General Grant,
Farragut co-operating with his fleet. After nearly six
months' operations against the post, with fearful loss of
life, ending in a close siege, Vicksburg capitulated on
the 4th of July, and Grant received the parole of
twenty thousand prisoners. Other posts were captured,
and after two years of battle, blockade, and siege, the

The War of Secession. 381

Mississippi River was open to the Gulf, and all Con-
federate supplies from the west of the river were cut
off.

Now President Lincoln began to say that peace
did not seem so far off; but war had to be pushed all
the more to secure it. The Confederate cause was
desperate, but the Southerners still were resolved to
" fight it out till they had," as they said, " played their
last man." In September they attacked and defeated
a large Federal force which had occupied Chattanooga,
near the border line of Tennessee and Georgia.
From this point, as a base, it was intended to invade
Georgia. But at Chickamanga the advancing Federals
were met, defeated, driven back to Chattanooga, and
besieged there almost to the point of starvation. The
siege works included batteries on hills overlooking
the town. In November Grant came to its relief, and
on the 24th the battle of Chattanooga was fought,
pronounced one of the most remarkable in history.
The Federal troops made their preliminary movements
with such order and precision that the Confederates
thought they were only holding a review, so complete
had their discipline become. They charged the
Confederates in their works, fighting uphill, and the
encounter of one of the attacking divisions, commanded
by General Hooker, familiarly called " Fighting Joe,"

382 Stories of American History.

is spoken of as the " battle above the clouds." The
besiegers were dislodged and routed, the Confederate
army was shortly driven out of Tennessee. Congress
voted thanks to the General and his army, and a gold
medal to General Grant. The office of " Lieutenant-
General," first held by Washington, then vacant until
the time of General Scott, vacant again upon his
retirement, was revived by special act of Congress,
and the appointment conferred upon General Grant.
The Lieutenant-General, the President of the United
States being General in chief, has actual command of
all the armies of the Government. The loss in these
two battles was over twenty thousand men on each
side.

Grant issued his first general order as Commander-
in-chief in March, 1864, and announced that his head-
quarters would be with the Army of the Potomac in
the field. General W. T. Sherman was left in com-
mand of the department of the Mississippi. Grant, on
the morning of the 4th of May, crossed the Rapidan
River with a force of one hundred thousand men.
The country into which they marched was dotted with
forests, having an almost impassable under-growth.
Here commenced, May 6th, a series of the most fierce
and sanguinary battles of the war. Generals Grant
and Meade, with Richmond as their object, were kept

The War of Secession. 383

at bay, and fought successively six battles, the Battle
of the Wilderness being first ; and there were several
minor affairs and skirmishes. After each engagement
Grant pushed farther south. Had he moved towards
Washington, such movements would have been called
retreats. On the I2th of June he crossed the James
River above Richmond, having lost in these battles
sixty thousand men, in killed, wounded, and prisoners.
The Confederate loss was about one-third as many.
The scene of the struggle was transferred to the
southern side of the James River. The main body
of the army of the Potomac was, by the middle of
July, before Petersburg, twenty- three miles south of
Richmond. Repeated attacks upon the Confederate
works cost the Union army over ten thousand men.
The slower process of a regular siege was adopted,
and such a siege, by the courage and skill of its
defenders, the Confederate force, with the army of Lee
behind it, sustained for nearly ten months.

General B. F. Butler had in May, while the fierce
battles of the wilderness were going on, advanced up
the James River. Deceiving the Confederates by a
feint against Richmond, his troops were on the night
of the 4th of May embarked in transports, on York
River, and in twenty-four hours were landed within
fifteen miles of Richmond, at Bermuda Hundred, at

384 Stories of American History.

the confluence of the James and Appomatox, with
entrenchments in their front, and gun-boats on both
flanks on the rivers. Thus the James River was
kept open for the supply of recruits for the sadly
depleted Union army. General Butler's force of thirty-
five thousand men included a brigade of coloured
troops. Though the first position at Bermuda Hun-
dred was secured without any loss, there was fierce
fighting afterward. The Negroes, invaluable as la-
bourers, in entrenching and mining, exhibited in battle
and in storming entrenchments a fierce courage and
contempt of danger unexceeded by any soldiers in the
army. Colonel Robert B. Shaw, who commanded the
first Massachusetts coloured regiment, fell with a large
part of his troops in an assault on Fort Wagner, near
Charleston, and was buried by the Confederates in a
common grave with his dark soldiers. In the West
Confederate commanders had given the warning, "No
quarter will be shown to Negro troops whatever."
Fort Pillow, on the Mississippi, was taken by a Con-
federate force in April, 1864, and three hundred of
its garrison massacred, both coloured and white ; the
latter as traitors to their southern birthplaces. It is
just to say that this atrocious act was without its
parallel during the war.

CHAP. XLVIII.— DEFEAT OF THE SOUTH.

1864—1865.

|"HILE the Union operations against Peters-
burg and Richmond were in progress, July,
1864, Lee aimed to relieve Richmond by a demonstra-
tion again Washington. An expedition under General
Jubal Early invaded Pennsylvania and Maryland, and
put Washington and Baltimore in peril. Washington
was reinforced, and Early, after several sharp encoun-
ters with Union troops, and firing Chambersburg, fell
back into Virginia. In the Shenandoah Valley
General Philip H. Sheridan and General Early were
brilliant commanders, well matched. Early was de-
feated in the battles of Winchester and Fisher's Hill.
The Union army then was posted at Cedar Creek, a
position so strong that General Sheridan, leaving
another officer in command, went to the city of Wash-
ington on official business. General Early, on the
morning of October igth, surprised, defeated, and

25

386 Stories of American History.

compelled the Union troops to retreat. A part of
their artillery was captured and turned upon them.
General Sheridan, who had reached Winchester on his
return, unsuspicious of any disaster, was alarmed by
certain indications, and hurried forward to the rescue.
This incident is known as "Sheridan's Ride." He
met and rallied the fugitives, led them back, recovered
the camps and the abandoned cannon, and routed in
their turn the late victors.

The vessels belonging to the United States mer-
cantile marine had by this time nearly disappeared
from the ocean. They had been sold to foreign
merchants, or taken by Confederate privateers. Of
these cruisers there were six afloat in 1864, which
captured over two hundred American vessels, burning
or destroying four-fifths of their prizes. But in June,
1864, a check was given to these piratical exploits.
The Alabama, a Confederate cruiser built in England,
with the best modern appliances, met her fate, after
having captured sixty-seven American vessels, forty-
five of which she destroyed. The Alabama was lying
in the French port of Cherbourg, when the U. S.
steam frigate Kearsarge, Captain John A. Winslow,
appeared off the harbour. The commander of the
Confederate ship, Raphael Semmes, sent a challenge
to the Kearsarge, and on the iQth, Sunday, steamed

Defeat of the South. 387

out for the " sea duel," which was witnessed by
thousands on the French shore. An English yacht
followed. The battle lasted a little over an hour, the
two vessels steaming round and round delivering
broadsides, till the Alabama was found to be in a
sinking condition and shortly after went down. Sixty-
five of her crew were picked up by the Kearsarge.
Semmes, his officers, and some men were saved by
the yacht and landed in England. In this memorable
sea-fight, one of the most remarkable incidents of the
great Secession War, not the least marvel was that
on both sides only ten men were killed and twenty-
three wounded. Of the latter, two were drowned.
The loss of the Kearsarge was only one killed and two
wounded. The Shenandoah, another Confederate
cruiser, was meanwhile operating in the Indian Ocean.
She captured some twenty vessels on her cruise, and
then, treacherously flying the U. S. flag, made her
appearance in the Arctic seas and " lighted up the ice
floes with incendiary fires," J capturing ten whale ships
and burning eight of them in a group. This was in
June, 1865, after the war closed, and after the pirate
knew it. But he did not regard the newspapers as
" official."

1 Lossing.

388 Stories of American History.

The blockade of the southern ports was now so far
effective that only two remained accessible to the
runners, Mobile in Alabama and Wilmington in
North Carolina. Mobile was taken in August by
Admiral Farragut, with the co-operation of a land
force. Both places were defended by strong fortifi-
cations, and at each was a formidable ram modelled
after the famous Merrimac. Farragut's squadron
passed the forts, but the vessel in advance, the iron-
clad Tecumseh, struck a torpedo, and sunk, carrying
down her commander and nearly all his officers and
crew. Only seventeen escaped. Farragut in his
flag-ship took the lead, directing the movements of
his fleet from the maintop of his vessel, where he was
fastened with a rope. The gun-boats and the ram
were next encountered, and the day ended with the
capture of one of the enemy's boats and the with-
drawal of the others to the inner harbour. The next
morning the formidable ram came rushing down, but
was pounded by the Union fleet till she struck. In
this engagement the Federal fleet was far superior in
the number of vessels. But the Confederates had the
co-operation of the forts, which were not taken until
several days after their fleet was destroyed ; and they
had also the hidden terror of torpedoes, one only of
which exploded. Mobile was closed to the blockade

Defeat of the South. 389

runners. So, soon after, was Wilmington, after a des-
perate resistance. Her " ram " was sunk by a torpedo
boat, managed by a young lieutenant, William B.
Gushing. Meanwhile raiding parties had cut off the
roads to Richmond, leaving the Confederate army
there only the hope that the troops from the South
would come to their relief.

President Lincoln had, in November, 1864, been
re-elected by a vast majority over McClellan, who was
the opposing candidate. While the South now hoped,
the North waited. But all doubt was soon removed.
The Union troops at the south-west kept the Con-
federates busy in a series of fierce battles. In
December President Lincoln received a despatch from
Sherman, presenting as a Christmas present the city
of Savannah. Close upon this tidings the Congress
of the United States took up and passed the " Thir-
teenth Amendment" abolishing slavery, on the Presi-
dent's earnest recommendation, and thus, the States
afterward assenting, the " War Measure " became a
constitutional provision for peace in the future.

On the 1 6th of November General Sherman, with
sixty-five thousand men, had commenced from Atlanta,
Georgia, his "march to the sea." The army moved
in two columns, subsisting on the country. Previously
to his departure Sherman fired and destroyed the

390 Stories of American History.

business portion of the town, which had been a chief
source of supply of war material to the Confederates.
He renounced all idea of a "base," occupied no posts,
kept no line of communication, sent advance detach-
ments to secure the roads and fords before him, and
destroyed bridges and roads behind him, as he pressed
forward. He cut the wires and shut himself from
telegraphic communication with friend and foe. In a
month he reached Savannah, whence, as we have
seen, he was " heard from." Here he was put in
communication with the United States blockading
fleet. He summoned General Hardee to surrender,
and was refused. While Sherman was making ready
for an assault, Hardee escaped in the night of the
2Oth December, and marched with fifteen thousand
men for Charleston. The Union army occupied
Savannah unopposed, and here, for the first time in
his march of two hundred and fifty miles, Sherman
left a garrison. On the march he lost only five
hundred and seventy men. Sherman's army next
took Columbia, the capital of the State, February I5th.
The beautiful town was burned, the disaster resulting
from the attempt of the Confederates to burn bales of
cotton which would else have been captured. Charles-
ton, which had endured a siege and blockade for
months, was abandoned by the Confederates, General

The Defeat of the South. 391

Hardee leaving with his troops, after effecting as much
destruction as possible, making, as he did from
Savannah, his movement in the night. The next day
the Federal forces moved in, and set to work ex-
tinguishing the flames which had been lighted by the
retreating Confederates. During the conflagration
five hundred persons were killed by the explosion of
magazines. Sherman still pursued his way to the
North, and after two battles and much skirmishing
reached Goldsborough, North Carolina, on March 23rd,
where he was joined by the Union troops under
General Schofield.

The campaign opened near Richmond in March,
1865, with various movements at first directed to the
cutting off the connections of that city with its sources
of supply, and then to the capture of the Confederate
capital and army. On Saturday, April ist, the Con-
federates were defeated at the battle of the Five
Forks ; and on the evening of the same day a
cannonade was opened on the whole Confederate line
round Petersburg. It was continued till four o'clock
on Sunday morning, and then with furious fighting an
assault was made, and Lee's army was driven within
its interior lines. Reinforcements arrived, and Lee
ordered a sortie against the besiegers. It was the
last charge, though made with desperate courage.

392 Stories of American History.

The Confederate party fell back, and Lee telegraphed
to Jefferson Davis in Richmond that the capital of the
confederacy must be evacuated.

Davis received the telegram in church. His face
and manner indicated sad tidings as he hastened out.
The information was not communicated to the public ;
but the religious services were closed, the congregation
dismissed, and rumours distracted the city. When by
the removal of boxes from the public offices the whole
truth was discovered, the rush of those who wished to
get away was made in wild confusion. Huge sums
were paid for horses and waggons. The gold in the
banks was sent off. Jefferson Davis and all his
government left the city, its sole representative
remaining behind being an officer in the War
Department. It was a pity he had not gone too.
With nightfall came terror and dismay. The city
council ordered the destruction of all spirituous liquors.
The gutters ran with whisky, and parties of the intoxi-
cated soldiers, joined by mobs, sacked the shops and
set fire to many buildings. The warehouses con-
taining cotton and tobacco were fired by order of the
representative of the government, and the official torch
once applied, incendiary fires increased. Ships were
burned, not only government but private property ;
and the explosions of magazines and war vessels

Defeat of the South. 393

added horror to the night's alarms. As the last of the
retreating soldiers crossed the James River, they
destroyed the bridges behind them. It was said that
over seven hundred buildings were destroyed.

At eight o'clock on Monday morning the Federal
troops marched in, a brigade of coloured soldiers
heading the column. Their first work was the ex-
tinguishing the fire which had destroyed one-third of
the city. The place was put under martial law, the
flag of the Union floated over the Virginia State
House, order was established, and not a few of the
citizens rejoiced at their deliverance. The blacks
were jubilant, but, true to their character, were guilty
of no violence. Over the North flew the tidings, and
it was a day of such rejoicing as found expression not
only in hilarious gatherings but in devout religious
services.

On the next Sunday, April 9th, Lee surrendered to
Grant at Appomatox Court House. The terms,
highly honourable to the victors, were release of the
vanquished on their simple word of honour and the
usual surrender of arms ; and rations were at once
issued to the famished Confederate soldiers from the
United States stores. Private cavalry men, who
owned their own horses, were even permitted to ride
home upon them. The week had been a wearisome

394 Stories of American History.

one. General Lee had made bold attempts to get
away with the remnant of his army, but was foiled.
His men had dropped step by step from sheer hunger ;
and many had thrown down their muskets, too faint
to carry them.

And yet there remained another crushing disaster
for the South. On the I4th of April, 1861, General
Robert Anderson surrendered Fort Sumter to the
Confederates. On the i4th of April, 1865, he hoisted
over Sumter the same old tattered ensign, which he
had saved for years, in the faith of its restoration. On
the evening of the same day, Abraham Lincoln was
murdered by an assassin while seated with his wife
and friends in a theatre in Washington. It was the
crowning defeat of the South. The feeling of com-
promise, which had begun to show itself among many
persons at the North, disappeared. The North stood
up in the fury of what at first appeared a righteous
anger ; and the South, humiliated, disclaimed the act
of the miscreant, who had followed his crime by ranting
on the stage the motto of Virginia, " Sic semper
tyrannis"

CHAP. XLIX.— CONCLUSION.

DISMAY and grief went through the land with
the tidings of the murder. Men looked at each
other with questioning fear whether the distracted
country which had borne so terrible a strain in open
warfare could yet contend with a dark conspiracy.
The assassin escaped from the scene of his crime,
finding a horse ready saddled, and no one could say
who or how many were leagued with him in guilt ; no
one could tell how far the foes of the Republic had
spread the mine, the explosion of which was to hurl
back into anarchy the peace which had been won by
brave conquerors over a foe as brave. Indignation
was re-awakened in the North against such persons as
were known as open advocates of the Southern cause,
or suspected as sympathizers. A multitude of excited
men had gathered in the city of New York, ready at
a word to move on the work of destruction. Suddenly
there appeared upon a balcony above them a man

396 Stories of American History.

whose mien betokened a leader of men. He waved
the flag of his country, as bespeaking attention, and
the crowd hushed to listen. They thought, perhaps,
that here was the man for whom they waited. Among
the first words he spake were : " The Lord God
Omnipotent reigneth !" They asked, "Who is this?
and what does he mean ?" It was James A. Garfield,
as a soldier, brave ; as a statesman, wise ; as an orator,
eloquent ; and as a man, not ashamed to confess and
to worship " Him who sitteth between the Cherubim,
be the earth never so unquiet." He reasoned the
turbulent multitude into forbearance, and inspired
them with his own hope and courage. New York
was saved from deeds of violence, which might by the
example have set the whole land in a blaze.

If the murder of Abraham Lincoln was the crowning
defeat of the South, the proudest victory of the North
was in the generous course which was taken by the nation
with those who lately sought to destroy it. Probably,
had Lincoln not been murdered, there would have been
greater leniency still. The serpent of slavery might
have been " scotched, not killed." A brief time restored
the national confidence. The Vice- President, Andrew
Johnson, assumed office as the constitution provides,
and the functions of government, not stopped for a day,
went on. Within six hours after the death of the

Conclusion. 397

President his successor took the oath of office. In-
vestigation narrowed down the conspiracy to nine
persons ; and diligent search failed to implicate any
more. Of these, the murderer, John Wilkes Booth,
was shot and mortally wounded while resisting his
captors ; eight were tried by court-martial, of whom
four were hanged and four sentenced to imprisonment.
The charge against them included a murderous assault,
made at the time when Lincoln was murdered, upon
the Secretary of State, William H. Seward, who
survived his wounds still to serve his country.

After Johnson came General Grant, who served
eight years, and after Grant, Rutherford B. Hayes,
who served one term. After Hayes came the broken
term of Garfield. Under these successive Presidents
the work of " reconstruction " went on, and the States
late in rebellion came back under prescribed conditions.
It were tedious to tell the political difficulties which
this work involved, nor has it been possible to note all
the men who have figured in the stirring events of the
Great Civil War. Many of those events, each of
itself a history, have been passed over.

" The freedmen have been quiet, and though thousands
of them are not yet competent to exercise the right of
suffrage, they are eager to learn. Of the articles which
it has been the fashion to say could only be raised by

398 Stories of American History.

slave labour, the annual returns are, on the whole, as
large as ever. In some there is as yet a falling off,
but the later cotton crops are among the greatest ever
raised. No coolies have been needed to produce
this result ; for the coloured people number over six
millions and a half of the fifty millions of people in the
United States : about two millions more than in 1870.
Of Asiatics, chiefly Chinese, of whose " invasion " so
much has been said, there are only about one hundred
and six thousand, and they are not increasing. Some
excitement was produced a few years ago by the
" exodus " of freedmen from their former slave homes.
It is the privilege of freemen to go where they list,
and this evidence of freedom no doubt had its effect.
But a curious fact appears from the census tables of
1880. The relative proportion of coloured people to
white has largely increased in nine of the former slave
States, and especially in those from which the exodus
took place.

A leading American Gazetteer, with pardonable
complacency, remarks that a stranger visiting the
United States would scarcely realize that so great an
internecine war had raged so recently. If the hand of
time has in a brief period covered the traces of ruin
and desolation, the memory of the bitterness of the
past and its causes can also be charitably buried. There

Conclusion. 399

was terrible suffering in prisons and prison camps ; and
there have been acts of violence and intimidation
against the freedmen, now become by the gift of
suffrage the political rulers of their former owners.
On these we need not dwell. The truth that "life,
liberty, and the pursuit of happiness " are the heritage
of all men is asserted before all the world, on the
continent which has tested so many vital questions.
No one who believes in a controlling Providence can
doubt the issue.

The Americans claim that the union of their States
is stronger than ever. It would seem that all nations
conceded that claim when their co-operation gave to
the United States Centennial Exposition of 1876 a
splendour never achieved before, and when the
youngest nation in the world received the elder nation
with the hospitality, if also with the confident poise and
easy self-assurance, of an heir just come into his estate,
despite all other claimants.

Honour was farther rendered when General Grant,
successful leader in the closing triumphs of the contest
which the nation made under Abraham Lincoln, laid
down his military and his civil authority, and travelled
round the world, the private citizen of the great
Republic. Such personal tribute no untitled man, with
no power in his hands or benefits in his gift, ever

400 Stories of American History.

received before. But the nation stood behind the
man, and the honour given, while his own just due, was
paid also to the people he represented, and to the cause
of the Right which he, with his patriotic countrymen,
had vindicated.

Again upon the United States the eyes of the world
were turned. A second time the chief magistrate was
stricken down by the hand of an assassin. The
wretched murderer in this case had no associates, and
his act had no public significance. Scarce had the newly
elected President, in 1881, entered upon his duties,
when he fell. James A. Garfield, with his living voice
for the right, had held a nation in check, when roused
to fury by a foul deed like that by which he now was
sacrificed. For many sad weeks, and weary with sorrow,
the world waited for his dying breath. From all lands
came the expression of deep sympathy. Shot down
on July 2nd, 1881, he died on the iQth of September,
meeting the "last enemy" like a hero and a Christian.
The Queen of England laid her offering upon his bier,
and forgetting the Empress in the woman, spake com-
fort to his widow.

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